essay about political culture

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Exploring us political culture: an in-depth essay, american political culture, introduction.

Political culture is the invisible hand that guides the conduct of political affairs in a society. It represents an amalgamation of beliefs, values, practices, and traditions that define how political and governmental affairs are conducted. In the United States, the political culture is a complex tapestry that has evolved significantly from its colonial origins to the present day. It serves not only as a window into the national ethos but also as a mechanism that influences political behavior and policy decisions. This essay seeks to dissect the intricacies of American political culture, tracing its roots and understanding its prevailing values, while also assessing its impact on the nation’s political and civic life.

Historical Foundations of American Political Culture

Colonial influence and the revolutionary spirit.

The seedbed of American political culture was undoubtedly the period of colonial America. Governed by the British Crown, the colonies were subject to a political culture that was, at its core, an extension of England’s own. Yet, the distance from the Crown and the diversity of the colonial population brewed a unique variant of political practice. The Enlightenment ideas percolating through Europe about self-governance, natural rights, and republicanism began to take root in the fertile intellectual soil of America. This cultural milieu set the stage for the Revolutionary War, which would be as much a clash of arms as a clash of political cultures.

The Constitution and Federalism

The adoption of the Constitution marked a revolutionary shift in American political culture. The document codified a balance between liberty and order, embedding the principles of federalism , checks and balances, and separation of powers into the national psyche. The Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates reflected deep-seated convictions about governance and personal freedoms, which were eventually reconciled through the inclusion of the Bill of Rights. These first ten amendments secured the individual liberties that remain central to American political identity to this day.

The Expanding Frontier and American Individualism

As the nation expanded westward, the frontier became a symbol of American ingenuity and individualism. The ideal of Manifest Destiny encapsulated the belief that Americans were divinely ordained to spread democracy and capitalism across the continent. This expansionist zeal was not only a physical journey but also a cultural one, reinforcing a sense of rugged individualism and self-reliance that would become hallmarks of the American political spirit.

The Civil War and Reconstruction

The Civil War was a pivotal moment in the history of American political culture, raising profound questions about federal authority versus states’ rights and the nature of union and liberty. The post-war Reconstruction era saw an expansion of federal power and civil liberties, albeit contested and incomplete, attempting to reconcile a fractured nation. The legacy of the Civil War and Reconstruction continues to influence American political discourse, particularly around issues of race, justice, and the distribution of power within the federation.

Core Values of American Political Culture

Liberty and freedom.

The twin pillars of American political culture, liberty and freedom, are enshrined in the nation’s founding documents and public consciousness. The concept of individual rights, safeguarded by the rule of law, underpins the political ethos of the United States. It informs the legal framework that protects freedoms ranging from speech and assembly to the pursuit of economic enterprise. The American Dream, an embodiment of economic freedom, promotes the idea that prosperity and success are accessible to all who are willing to work hard, regardless of their origins.

While liberty and freedom emphasize the rights of the individual, equality addresses the moral and legal foundations of American society. The pursuit of equality in the United States has been a long and often tumultuous journey, highlighting the distinction between legal equality, as granted by the Constitution, and social equality, which has been fought for through social movements and policy reforms. The Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century and the ongoing struggle for gender equality exemplify the continuous efforts to bridge the gap between the country’s egalitarian ideals and the realities of social stratification.

The value of democracy lies at the heart of American political life, emphasizing the role of citizens in the governing process. Representative democracy is facilitated by relatively broad suffrage rights and the accountability of public officials to the electorate. Yet, voter participation and the efficacy of the electoral system are subjects of ongoing debate, with controversies surrounding electoral reforms and voting rights indicating that democracy is a living, evolving system that must be continually nurtured and defended.

Civic Duty and Responsibility

American political culture is also characterized by a strong sense of civic duty and responsibility. This encompasses a commitment to community service, volunteerism, and the active engagement in political and civic affairs. The prevalence of civil society organizations and the tradition of activism reflect the belief that citizens are not just passive recipients of government actions but are active participants in the shaping of public policy and community welfare.

Political Socialization and Cultural Transmission

The role of education and family.

Education serves as the primary vehicle for political socialization, instilling civic values and knowledge about the political system. Schools, from elementary to higher education, play a crucial role in shaping the political consciousness of American citizens. The family also acts as a fundamental agent, often transferring partisan loyalties and ideological leanings to the younger generation through discussion and participation in political activities.

Influence of Media and Technology

In contemporary society, media and technology have emerged as dominant forces in political socialization. The mass media, with its extensive reach, shapes perceptions and opinions about political issues and actors. Meanwhile, digital platforms and social media have revolutionized the way information is disseminated, creating new spaces for political engagement and discussion, albeit with the challenge of echo chambers and misinformation.

Religious and Ethnic Influences

Religion and ethnicity continue to impact American political culture significantly. Religious beliefs inform the moral and ethical perspectives of individuals and groups, influencing their political views and behaviors. Ethnic identity also plays a role in political affiliation and policy preferences, with the increasing diversity of the American populace contributing to a more multifaceted political landscape.

The Impact of Economic and Social Class

Economic and social class contribute to political socialization by delineating different interests and perspectives within society. These class distinctions can influence individuals’ political priorities, with economic status often correlating with certain policy preferences and voting patterns.

Political Ideologies and Partisanship

The american two-party system.

The United States is known for its two-party system, dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties. This system shapes the political debate and provides a clear dichotomy in political ideologies, with each party representing a broad coalition of interests and beliefs. The two-party dynamic fosters a sense of identity and belonging among voters but also poses challenges in representing the full spectrum of political opinions.

Conservative and Liberal Ideologies

Conservative and liberal ideologies represent the main spectrums of political thought in the United States. Conservatives generally advocate for limited government, free-market principles, and traditional social values. Liberals tend to support a more active government role in the economy, progressive social policies, and individual liberties. These ideologies are not static and have evolved over time, influenced by cultural, social, and economic changes.

The Rise of Partisanship and Polarization

Recent decades have seen an intensification of partisanship and political polarization, with ideological divides becoming increasingly pronounced. Partisan loyalty often overrides compromise, leading to gridlock in governance and a polarized electorate. This polarization raises concerns about the health of the democratic process and the ability of the political system to effectively address complex challenges.

Third Parties and Independent Movements

While the two-party system prevails, third parties and independent movements periodically emerge, reflecting diverse viewpoints and dissatisfaction with the dominant parties. These groups struggle for recognition and influence within the political system, often bringing attention to specific issues or perspectives that are not adequately represented by the major parties.

Challenges to American Political Culture

Political apathy and voter disengagement.

One of the most pressing challenges to American political culture is the issue of political apathy and voter disengagement. With many citizens feeling that their voices are not heard or that their votes do not make a difference, there is a significant disconnect that threatens the core democratic principle of active citizenry.

Media Fragmentation and the Information Echo Chamber

The fragmentation of media and the proliferation of information echo chambers create environments where individuals are rarely exposed to diverse viewpoints, leading to a segmented society and the solidification of preexisting beliefs. This phenomenon hampers constructive political discourse and the healthy exchange of ideas.

The Influence of Money in Politics

The influence of money in politics, particularly in the form of campaign contributions and lobbying, presents a significant challenge to the democratic process. It raises questions about the equality of voice and representation, with concerns that the interests of the few may outweigh the needs of the many.

Partisan Polarization and Legislative Gridlock

Partisan polarization leads to legislative gridlock, where the inability to reach bipartisan compromise stymies effective governance. This gridlock not only affects policy-making but also fosters cynicism among the electorate about the functionality of their political institutions.

The Future of American Political Culture

Adaptation and reform.

The future of American political culture will likely require adaptation and reform. Acknowledging and addressing the challenges of polarization, political engagement, and the role of money in politics are critical to ensuring that the political system remains representative and effective.

Technological Innovation and Political Engagement

Technological innovation offers new avenues for political engagement and may serve to reinvigorate the democratic process. The potential for digital platforms to enhance citizen participation, education, and dialogue is substantial, albeit with the need for vigilance against the spread of misinformation.

The Evolving American Identity

As the United States becomes increasingly diverse, the American identity and its political culture will evolve. This diversification has the potential to enrich the political landscape with new perspectives and ideas, leading to a more inclusive and representative polity.

American political culture is a complex and ever-evolving construct. It is shaped by historical events, influenced by a set of core values, and constantly challenged by changing societal norms and technological advancements. As the United States continues to confront internal and external pressures, the resilience of its political culture will be tested. However, the adaptability that has characterized American political development offers hope for the future. By addressing the pressing issues of today, and by striving to uphold the principles of liberty, equality, and democracy, American political culture can continue to evolve in a manner that affirms the nation’s founding ideals while embracing the changes of the modern world.

Class Notes, Discussion Questions, and Outline on American Political Culture

Instructional Objectives

political culture – the inherited set of beliefs, attitudes, and opinions Americans have about how their government ought to operate.

1. Define what scholars mean by political culture, and list some of the dominant aspects of political culture in the United States. ( answer )

2. Discuss how American citizens compare with those of other countries in their political attitudes. ( answer )

3. List the contributions to American political culture made by the Revolution, by the nation’s religious heritages, and by the family. Explain the apparent absence of class consciousness in this country. ( answer )

4. Define internal and external feelings of political efficacy, and explain how the level of each of these has varied over the past generation. ( answer )

Text Outline

I. Political culture

A. Tocqueville on American democracy 1. No feudal aristocracy; minimal taxes; few legal restraints 2. Westward movement; vast territory provided opportunities 3. Nation of small, independent farmers 4. “Moral and intellectual characteristics” – today called “political culture”

B. Definition of political culture

1. Distinctive and patterned way of  thinking about how political and economic life ought to be  carried out. 2. For example, stronger American belief in political than in economic equality

C. Elements of the American political system

1. Liberty 2. Equality 3. Democracy 4. Civic duty 5. Individual responsibility

D. Some questions about the U.S. political culture

1. How do we know people share these beliefs? -before polls, beliefs inferred from books, speeches, etc.

2. How do we explain behavior inconsistent with these beliefs

-beliefs still important, cause changes in behavior

3. Why has there been so much political conflict in U.S. history?

-beliefs contradict one another, are not consistently prioritized

Historians have debated the degree to which basic political values are shared in the United States. “Consensus” historians (like Louis Hartz) contend that Americans agree on political values based on the principles articulated by John Locke. “Conflict” historians (like Vernon Parrington) discern a liberal-conservative dimension to American values and dispute the existence of a unified culture.

4. Most consistent evidence of political culture

-use of terms “Americanism,” “un-American”

E. The Economic System

1. Americans support free enterprise , but see limits on marketplace freedom 2. Americans prefer equality of opportunity over equality of result 3. Americans have a shared commitment to economic individualism (1924 /1977 Poll on Personal Responsibility shows that high school students feel that we are personally responsible)

II. Comparing US Political Culture to Other Nations

A. Political System and Ideology 1. Americans tend to be assertive and participatory 2. Other nations citizens, Sweden for example, tend to “trust the experts” and advocate “what is best” as opposed to “what people want.” 3. Japanese stress group harmony and community more. Americans are much willing to buck trends and disrupt the status quo. 4. Americans stress individualism, competition, equality and “following the rules.” 5. Americans vote less but participate in other ways more. 6. Americans have more faith in their national institutions then other nations.

B. Economic Systems

1. American concept of Capitalism and fair competition firmly entrenched. 2. America more of a “meritocracy.” We accept some income inequality but not class division. 3. Other nations more socialistic.

C. Religious Belief

1. Americans are much more religious 2. Religion plays a much more important role in politics – both liberals and conservatives use religion to promote their political agenda.

III. The source of political culture

A. Historical roots 1. Revolution essentially over liberty; preoccupied with asserting rights 2. Adversarial culture due to distrust of authority and a belief that human nature is depraved 3. Federalist-jeffersonian transition in 1800 a. Legitimated role of opposition party; liberty and political change can coexist

B. Legal-sociological factors

1. Widespread (not universal) participation permitted by Constitution 2. Absence of an established national religion a. Religious diversity a source of cleavage b. Absence of established religion has facilitated the absence of political orthodoxy c. Puritan heritage (dominant tradition) stress on personal achievement: (1) Work (2) Save money (3) Obey secular law (4) Do good works (5) Embrace “Protestant ethic” (work ethic)

d. Miniature political systems produced by churches’ congregational organization, so civic and political skills could develop

3. Family instills the ways we think about world and politics

a. Greater freedom of children and equality among family members leads to belief in rights and acceptance of diverse views in decision-making

4. High degree of class consciousness absent

a. Most people consider themselves middle class b. Even unemployed do not oppose management c. Message of Horatio Alger stories is still popular

C. The culture war

1 . Two cultural classes in America battle over values 2. Culture war differs from political disputes in three ways: a. Money is not at stake b. Compromises are almost impossible c. Conflict is more profound

3. Culture conflict animated by deep differences in people’s beliefs about private and public morality

4. Culture war about what kind of country we ought to live in

5. Simplify by identifying two camps

a. Orthodox: morality more important than self-expression with fixed rules from God b. Progressive: personal freedom more important than tradition with changing rules based on circumstances of modern life

6. Orthodox associated with fundamentalist Protestants and progressives with mainline Protestants and those with no strong religious beliefs

7. Culture war occurring both between and within religious denominations

8. Current culture war has special historical importance due to two changes:

a. More people consider themselves progressives than previously b. Rise of technology makes it easier to mobilize people

IV. Mistrust of government

A. Evidence of increase since mid-1960s 1. Jimmy Carter speech in 1979 on American malaise 2. Polls showed people believed… a. “Quite a few” crooks in government b. Government run for a “few big interests” c. “Lots” of tax money wasted d. Government does right only “some of the time”

1. Watergate 2. Vietnam

C. Necessary to view context

1. Mistrust of specific leaders and policies, not of system mainly 2. Present view closer to historical norm 3. Mistrust shared with most other institutions

D. In summary

1. No loss of confidence in Americans themselves or in their system 2. But people less ready to support leaders than in 1950s

V. Political efficacy

A. Definition: citizen’s capacity to understand and influence political events B. Parts 1. Internal efficacy a. Confidence in one’s ability to understand and influence events b. About the same as in 1950s

2. External efficacy

a. Belief that system will respond to citizens b. Not shaped by particular events c. Declined steadily through 1960s and 1970s d. Government becoming too big to respond to individual

C. Comparison: efficacy still much higher than Europeans’

D. Conclusion

1. Americans today may not be more alienated but simply more realistic

VI. Political tolerance

A. Crucial to democratic politics 1. Free discussion of ideas 2. Select rulers without oppression

B. Levels of American political tolerance

1. Most Americans assent in abstract but would deny rights in concrete cases 2. Most are willing to allow expression by those with whom they disagree 3. Becoming more tolerant in recent decades

C. Question: How do very unpopular groups survive?

1. Most people do not act on beliefs 2. Officeholders and activists more tolerant than general public 3. Usually no consensus exists on whom to persecute 4. Courts are sufficiently insulated from public opinion to enforce protection

D. Conclusions

1. Political liberty cannot be taken for granted 2. No group should pretend it is always more tolerant than another

Discussion Questions

1. Alexis de Tocqueville noted that democracy as it exists in America rarely thrived in other nations. Why do you think this is so?

2. How is political culture different from political ideology?

3. Of the five important elements in the American view of the political system (Liberty, Equality, Democracy, Civic Duty and Individual Responsibility) are any more or less important than the others?

4. What are the two most important aspects the political culture that you have learned? (Individualism and equality)

5. To what extent is their agreement in America over these values?

6. What are our basic economic values as a nation?

7. How are we different from other nations?

8. How has gender and upbringing effect the learning of political culture?

9. How has our Puritan heritage effected our political culture? To what extent do you think it still has impact?

10. To what extent do you think America is “class conscious?”

11. What is the culture war, what are the sides involved and how has it impacted on the political socialization?

12. How has mistrust of government become part of our political culture?

13. To what extent is tolerance a part of our political culture?

Important Terms

Americanism A belief that Americans consider themselves bound by common values and common hopes.

civic competence A belief that one can affect government policies.

civic duty The belief that citizens have an obligation to participate in civic and political affairs.

class consciousness The tendency to think of oneself as a worker whose interests are in opposition to those of management and vice versa.

culture war A split in the United States reflecting differences in people’s beliefs about private and public morality, and regarding what standards ought to govern individual behavior and social arrangements.

efficacy Self esteem, competence or mastery.

equality of opportunity An economic value in American culture which maintains that all people should have the same opportunity to get ahead but that people should be paid on the basis of ability rather than on the basis of need.

external efficacy The belief that the political system will respond to citizens. This belief has declined in recent years because of public sentiment that the government has become too big to be responsive.

internal efficacy Confidence in one’s own ability to understand and to take part in political affairs. This confidence has remained stable over the past few decades.

orthodox (social) One of two camps in the culture war that believes morality is as important (or even more so) than self-expression and that moral rules are derived from God.

political ideology A comprehensive set of political, economic, and social views or ideas concerned with the form and role of government.

political culture A distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out.

political efficacy The sense that citizens have the capacity to understand and influence political events.

progressive (social) One of two camps in the culture war that believes personal freedom is more important than traditional rules and that rules depend on the circumstances of modern life.

rights A preoccupation of the American political culture that has imbued the daily conduct of politics with a kind of adversarial spirit.

secular humanism The belief that moral standards do not require religious justification.

work ethic A tradition of Protestant churches that required a life of personal achievement as well as religious conviction; a believer had an obligation to work, save money, obey the secular law, and do good works. Max Weber attributed the rise of capitalism, in part, to this ethic.

Frequently Asked Questions about American Political Culture

American political culture is defined by several core characteristics that have been embedded into the nation’s consciousness since its founding. These include a commitment to individual liberty, political equality, democracy, the rule of law, and civic duty. Liberty, particularly, is a central tenet that champions individual freedoms and limits on government power, ensuring that citizens have the right to express themselves, practice their religion, and pursue their own economic interests. Political equality holds that all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law and have equal voting rights and opportunities to participate in the political process. Democracy in the American context is anchored in the belief that government should be by the people and for the people, emphasizing the importance of public opinion, elections, and representative governance. The rule of law suggests that society should be governed by laws, not by individuals, and that those laws should be applied equally to all. Lastly, civic duty encompasses the belief that citizens are not only rights-holders but also bear the responsibility to engage in public affairs, uphold the laws, and contribute to the common good.

The American education system contributes to the country’s political culture primarily through the process of political socialization, by which individuals acquire their political beliefs, values, and behaviors. From a young age, American students are taught about the country’s historical struggles for freedom and justice, the significance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the roles and responsibilities of citizens within a democracy. Civics education plays a pivotal role, offering students a deeper understanding of their government’s structure and function, the importance of voting, and the means by which they can participate in political life. Additionally, the fostering of critical thinking skills encourages students to analyze and engage with political issues independently. The educational system also reinforces the ideals of equality and the belief in the American Dream — the notion that all individuals, regardless of background, have the opportunity to succeed through hard work. Through these teachings, the education system nurtures the next generation of citizens who are informed about, and capable of contributing to, the political culture of the United States.

Recent technological advancements, especially the rise of the internet and social media, have significantly impacted American political culture. These technologies have changed how information is disseminated and consumed, how political campaigns are run, and how elected officials communicate with constituents. Social media platforms have enabled citizens to engage more directly with political discourse, participate in community organizing, and mobilize for social movements. They have also made political information more accessible, though not without challenges; the prevalence of misinformation and echo chambers can distort public perception and debate. The 24-hour news cycle and the rapid spread of information (and misinformation) can lead to political polarization, as individuals become entrenched in their ideological bubbles. However, technology has also empowered grassroots movements and allowed for more significant civic engagement and advocacy, as seen with various online petitions and fundraising campaigns. Despite these advancements posing certain challenges to American political culture, they have undoubtedly democratized aspects of political participation.

Immigration and diversity have fundamentally shaped American political culture by bringing in a multitude of perspectives, values, and beliefs. As a nation of immigrants, the United States has a unique identity that is continually reshaped by the influx of people from around the globe. This diversity has expanded the range of political issues and influenced the creation and adaptation of policies, particularly those related to civil rights, immigration, and multiculturalism. The interplay of different cultures has led to a more inclusive definition of what it means to be American, one that goes beyond a single ethnic or racial identity to embrace a more pluralistic view of citizenship and national belonging. Diversity has also introduced new ideas and traditions into the American political system, enriching the democratic process by incorporating varied voices and experiences. Nonetheless, this diversity has also led to debates over assimilation, the role of bilingualism, and the balance between accommodating diversity and maintaining a cohesive national culture. Overall, immigration and diversity continue to be a source of vitality as well as tension within American political culture, reflecting the nation’s ongoing endeavor to define its identity in an ever-changing world.

The American Dream, the national ethos of the United States, suggests that freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success through hard work. This concept influences American political culture by promoting the ideals of progress, meritocracy, and the belief that upward mobility is accessible to all. It affects policy debates, particularly those related to economic issues, taxation, education, and immigration. Politicians across the spectrum often invoke the American Dream to garner support for policies intended to provide equal opportunities for success. However, the reality of achieving the American Dream is subject to considerable debate, particularly in discussions about income inequality, systemic barriers to success, and the varying definitions of what constitutes ‘success’ in American society. The enduring power of this concept lies in its aspirational nature and its ability to shape the collective hopes and motivations of the American people.

Political parties play a central role in American political culture, organizing political action, and expressing collective ideologies. They provide a structure for political debate, policy formulation, and the electoral process. The United States’ two-party system, dominated by Democrats and Republicans, structures much of the political dialogue around a left-right spectrum, though the parties themselves are coalitions of various interest groups and ideological factions. Parties help to mobilize voters, facilitate political participation, and serve as a means for the average citizen to identify with larger political trends and movements. They also act as gatekeepers, influencing which issues gain national attention and which candidates are presented to the electorate. While parties are crucial to the functioning of American democracy, they also contribute to political polarization and the challenges of achieving bipartisan consensus in governance.

Federalism , the constitutional division of power between the national government and the state governments, shapes American political culture by fostering a sense of localism and regional identity alongside national identity. It allows for a diversity of policies and political cultures to exist within the country, accommodating the vast geographic and demographic differences across states. Federalism promotes political innovation, as states can act as “laboratories of democracy,” experimenting with policies before they are adopted at the national level. It also encourages political participation by bringing government closer to the people, allowing for more accessible and localized avenues for citizens to influence their governance. On the other hand, federalism can lead to inconsistencies in the rights and services provided across states, creating a complex tapestry of laws and regulations that can be both a strength and a challenge within American political culture.

Social movements have had a profound impact on American political culture by driving progress and reform. These movements—from the civil rights movement to the women’s suffrage movement, from LGBTQ+ advocacy to environmental activism—have raised awareness about issues that are sometimes neglected by mainstream politics and have pushed for legislative and social changes. They have mobilized citizens, influenced public opinion, and ultimately led to significant changes in laws and societal norms. Social movements have also enriched American democratic practices by demonstrating the power of collective action and civic engagement. They remind policymakers of the ongoing struggles for equality and justice and serve as a catalyst for political and social transformation. Furthermore, social movements have historically played a role in redefining the values and priorities of American political culture, emphasizing the importance of grassroots efforts in a functioning democracy.

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6.1 Political Culture

Learning objectives.

After reading this section, you should be able to answer the following questions:

• What is a nation’s political culture, and why is it important?
• What are the characteristics of American political culture?
• What are the values and beliefs that are most ingrained in American citizens?
• What constitutes a political subculture, and why are subcultures important?

This section defines political culture and identifies the core qualities that distinguish American political culture, including the country’s traditions, folklore, and heroes. The values that Americans embrace, such as individualism and egalitarianism, will be examined as they relate to cultural ideals.

What Is Political Culture?

Political culture can be thought of as a nation’s political personality. It encompasses the deep-rooted, well-established political traits that are characteristic of a society. Political culture takes into account the attitudes, values, and beliefs that people in a society have about the political system, including standard assumptions about the way that government works. As political scientist W. Lance Bennett notes, the components of political culture can be difficult to analyze. “They are rather like the lenses in a pair of glasses: they are not the things we see when we look at the world; they are the things we see with” (Bennett, 1980). Political culture helps build community and facilitate communication because people share an understanding of how and why political events, actions, and experiences occur in their country.

Political culture includes formal rules as well as customs and traditions, sometimes referred to as “habits of the heart,” that are passed on generationally. People agree to abide by certain formal rules, such as the country’s constitution and codified laws. They also live by unstated rules: for example, the willingness in the United States to accept the outcomes of elections without resorting to violence. Political culture sets the boundaries of acceptable political behavior in a society (Elazar, 1994).

While the civic culture in the United States has remained relatively stable over time, shifts have occurred as a result of transforming experiences, such as war, economic crises, and other societal upheavals, that have reshaped attitudes and beliefs (Inglehart, 1990). Key events, such as the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 have influenced the political worldviews of American citizens, especially young people, whose political values and attitudes are less well established.

American Political Culture

Political culture consists of a variety of different elements. Some aspects of culture are abstract, such as political beliefs and values. Other elements are visible and readily identifiable, such as rituals, traditions, symbols, folklore, and heroes. These aspects of political culture can generate feelings of national pride that form a bond between people and their country. Political culture is not monolithic. It consists of diverse subcultures based on group characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and social circumstances, including living in a particular place or in a certain part of the country. We will now examine these aspects of political culture in the American context.

Beliefs are ideas that are considered to be true by a society. Founders of the American republic endorsed both equality, most notably in the Declaration of Independence, and liberty, most prominently in the Constitution. These political theories have become incorporated into the political culture of the United States in the central beliefs of egalitarianism and individualism.

Egalitarianism is the doctrine emphasizing the natural equality of humans, or at least the absence of a preexisting superiority of one set of humans above another. This core American belief is found in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, which states that “all men are created equal” and that people are endowed with the unalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Americans endorse the intrinsic equal worth of all people. Survey data consistently indicate that between 80 percent and 90 percent of Americans believe that it is essential to treat all people equally, regardless of race or ethnic background (Hunter & Bowman, 1996; Pew Research Center, 2009).

The principle of individualism stresses the centrality and dignity of individual people. It privileges free action and people’s ability to take the initiative in making their own lives as well as those of others more prosperous and satisfying. In keeping with the Constitution’s preoccupation with liberty, Americans feel that children should be taught to believe that individuals can better themselves through self-reliance, hard work, and perseverance (Hunter & Bowman, 1996).

The beliefs of egalitarianism and individualism are in tension with one another. For Americans today, this contradiction tends to be resolved by an expectation of equality of opportunity , the belief that each individual has the same chance to get ahead in society. Americans tend to feel that most people who want to get ahead can make it if they’re willing to work hard (Pew Research Center, 1999). Americans are more likely to promote equal political rights, such as the Voting Rights Act’s stipulation of equal participation for all qualified voters, than economic equality, which would redistribute income from the wealthy to the poor (Wilson, 1997).

Beliefs form the foundation for values , which represent a society’s shared convictions about what is just and good. Americans claim to be committed to the core values of individualism and egalitarianism. Yet there is sometimes a significant disconnect between what Americans are willing to uphold in principle and how they behave in practice. People may say that they support the Constitutional right to free speech but then balk when they are confronted with a political extremist or a racist speaking in public.

Core American political values are vested in what is often called the American creed . The creed, which was composed by New York State Commissioner of Education Henry Sterling Chapin in 1918, refers to the belief that the United States is a government “by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed.” The nation consists of sovereign states united as “a perfect Union” based on “the principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity.” American exceptionalism is the view that America’s exceptional development as a nation has contributed to its special place is the world. It is the conviction that the country’s vast frontier offered boundless and equal opportunities for individuals to achieve their goals. Americans feel strongly that their nation is destined to serve as an example to other countries (Hunter & Bowman, 1996). They believe that the political and economic systems that have evolved in this country are perfectly suited in principle to permit both individualism and egalitarianism.

Consequently, the American creed also includes patriotism : the love of one’s country and respect for its symbols and principles. The events of 9/11 ignited Americans’ patriotic values, resulting in many public displays of support for the country, its democratic form of government, and authority figures in public-service jobs, such as police and firefighters. The press has scrutinized politicians for actions that are perceived to indicate a lack of patriotism, and the perception that a political leader is not patriotic can generate controversy. In the 2008 presidential election, a minor media frenzy developed over Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s “patriotism problem.” The news media debated the significance of Obama’s not wearing a flag lapel pin on the campaign trail and his failure to place his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem.

Barack Obama’s Patriotism

(click to see video)

A steak fry in Iowa during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary sparked a debate over candidate Barack Obama’s patriotism. Obama, standing with opponents Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton, failed to place his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem. In the background is Ruth Harkin, wife of Senator Tom Harkin, who hosted the event.

Another core American value is political tolerance , the willingness to allow groups with whom one disagrees to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, such as free speech. While many people strongly support the ideal of tolerance, they often are unwilling to extend political freedoms to groups they dislike. People acknowledge the constitutional right of racist groups, such as skinheads, to demonstrate in public, but will go to great lengths to prevent them from doing so (Sullivan, Piereson, & Marcus, 1982).

Democratic political values are among the cornerstones of the American creed. Americans believe in the rule of law : the idea that government is based on a body of law, agreed on by the governed, that is applied equally and justly. The Constitution is the foundation for the rule of law. The creed also encompasses the public’s high degree of respect for the American system of government and the structure of its political institutions.

Capitalist economic values are embraced by the American creed. Capitalist economic systems emphasize the need for a free-enterprise system that allows for open business competition, private ownership of property, and limited government intervention in business affairs. Underlying these capitalist values is the belief that, through hard work and perseverance, anyone can be financially successful (McClosky & Zaller, 1987).

Tea Party supporters from across the country staged a “March on Washington” to demonstrate their opposition to government spending and to show their patriotism.

Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 3.0.

The primacy of individualism may undercut the status quo in politics and economics. The emphasis on the lone, powerful person implies a distrust of collective action and of power structures such as big government, big business, or big labor. The public is leery of having too much power concentrated in the hands of a few large companies. The emergence of the Tea Party, a visible grassroots conservative movement that gained momentum during the 2010 midterm elections, illustrates how some Americans become mobilized in opposition to the “tax and spend” policies of big government (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 2001). While the Tea Party shunned the mainstream media because of their view that the press had a liberal bias, they received tremendous coverage of their rallies and conventions, as well as their candidates. Tea Party candidates relied heavily on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to get their anti–big government message out to the public.

Rituals, Traditions, and Symbols

Rituals, traditions, and symbols are highly visible aspects of political culture, and they are important characteristics of a nation’s identity. Rituals , such as singing the national anthem at sporting events and saluting the flag before the start of a school day, are ceremonial acts that are performed by the people of a nation. Some rituals have important symbolic and substantive purposes: Election Night follows a standard script that ends with the vanquished candidate congratulating the opponent on a well-fought battle and urging support and unity behind the victor. Whether they have supported a winning or losing candidate, voters feel better about the outcome as a result of this ritual (Ginsberg & Weissberg, 1978).The State of the Union address that the president makes to Congress every January is a ritual that, in the modern era, has become an opportunity for the president to set his policy agenda, to report on his administration’s accomplishments, and to establish public trust. A more recent addition to the ritual is the practice of having representatives from the president’s party and the opposition give formal, televised reactions to the address.

President Barack Obama gives the 2010 State of the Union address. The ritual calls for the president to be flanked by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Nancy Pelosi) and the vice president (Joe Biden). Members of Congress and distinguished guests fill the House gallery.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Political traditions are customs and festivities that are passed on from generation to generation, such as celebrating America’s founding on the Fourth of July with parades, picnics, and fireworks. Symbols are objects or emblems that stand for a nation. The flag is perhaps the most significant national symbol, especially as it can take on enhanced meaning when a country experiences difficult times. The bald eagle was officially adopted as the country’s emblem in 1787, as it is considered a symbol of America’s “supreme power and authority.”

The Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor, an 1844 gift from France that is a symbol welcoming people from foreign lands to America’s shores.

Severin St. Martin – Statue of Liberty from Air – CC BY 2.0.

Political folklore , the legends and stories that are shared by a nation, constitutes another element of culture. Individualism and egalitarianism are central themes in American folklore that are used to reinforce the country’s values. The “rags-to-riches” narratives of novelists—the late-nineteenth-century writer Horatio Alger being the quintessential example—celebrate the possibilities of advancement through hard work.

Much American folklore has grown up around the early presidents and figures from the American Revolution. This folklore creates an image of men, and occasionally women, of character and strength. Most folklore contains elements of truth, but these stories are usually greatly exaggerated.

There are many folktales about young George Washington, including that he chopped down a cherry tree and threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River. These stories were popularized by engravings like this one by John C. Mccabe depicting Washington working as a land surveyor.

The first American president, George Washington, is the subject of folklore that has been passed on to school children for more than two hundred years. Young children learn about Washington’s impeccable honesty and, thereby, the importance of telling the truth, from the legend of the cherry tree. When asked by his father if he had chopped down a cherry tree with his new hatchet, Washington confessed to committing the deed by replying, “Father, I cannot tell a lie.” This event never happened and was fabricated by biographer Parson Mason Weems in the late 1700s (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 2011). Legend also has it that, as a boy, Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River, a story meant to illustrate his tremendous physical strength. In fact, Washington was not a gifted athlete, and silver dollars did not exist when he was a youth. The origin of this folklore is an episode related by his step-grandson, who wrote that Washington had once thrown a piece of slate across a very narrow portion of the Rappahannock River in Virginia (George Washington’s Mount Vernon, 2011).

Heroes embody the human characteristics most prized by a country. A nation’s political culture is in part defined by its heroes who, in theory, embody the best of what that country has to offer. Traditionally, heroes are people who are admired for their strength of character, beneficence, courage, and leadership. People also can achieve hero status because of other factors, such as celebrity status, athletic excellence, and wealth.

Shifts in the people whom a nation identifies as heroes reflect changes in cultural values. Prior to the twentieth century, political figures were preeminent among American heroes. These included patriotic leaders, such as American-flag designer Betsy Ross; prominent presidents, such as Abraham Lincoln; and military leaders, such as Civil War General Stonewall Jackson, a leader of the Confederate army. People learned about these leaders from biographies, which provided information about the valiant actions and patriotic attitudes that contributed to their success.

Today American heroes are more likely to come from the ranks of prominent entertainment, sports, and business figures than from the world of politics. Popular culture became a powerful mechanism for elevating people to hero status beginning around the 1920s. As mass media, especially motion pictures, radio, and television, became an important part of American life, entertainment and sports personalities who received a great deal of publicity became heroes to many people who were awed by their celebrity (Greenstein, 1969).

In the 1990s, business leaders, such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates and General Electric’s Jack Welch, were considered to be heroes by some Americans who sought to achieve material success. The tenure of business leaders as American heroes was short-lived, however, as media reports of the lavish lifestyles and widespread criminal misconduct of some corporation heads led people to become disillusioned. The incarceration of Wall Street investment advisor Bernard Madoff made international headlines as he was alleged to have defrauded investors of billions of dollars (Yin, 2001).

Sports figures feature prominently among American heroes, especially during their prime. Cyclist Lance Armstrong is a hero to many Americans because of his unmatched accomplishment of winning seven consecutive Tour de France titles after beating cancer. However, heroes can face opposition from those who seek to discredit them: Armstrong, for example, has been accused of doping to win races, although he has never failed a drug test.

Cyclist Lance Armstrong is considered by many to be an American hero because of his athletic accomplishments and his fight against cancer. He also has been the subject of unrelenting media reports that attempt to deflate his hero status.

NBA basketball player Michael Jordan epitomizes the modern-day American hero. Jordan’s hero status is vested in his ability to bridge the world of sports and business with unmatched success. The media promoted Jordan’s hero image intensively, and he was marketed commercially by Nike, who produced his “Air Jordans” shoes (Walters, 1997). His unauthorized 1999 film biography is titled Michael Jordan: An American Hero , and it focuses on how Jordan triumphed over obstacles, such as racial prejudice and personal insecurities, to become a role model on and off the basketball court. Young filmgoers watched Michael Jordan help Bugs Bunny defeat evil aliens in Space Jam . In the film Like Mike , pint-sized rapper Lil’ Bow Wow plays an orphan who finds a pair of Michael Jordan’s basketball shoes and is magically transformed into an NBA star. Lil’ Bow Wow’s story has a happy ending because he works hard and plays by the rules.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks prompted Americans to make heroes of ordinary people who performed in extraordinary ways in the face of adversity. Firefighters and police officers who gave their lives, recovered victims, and protected people from further threats were honored in numerous ceremonies. Also treated as heroes were the passengers of Flight 93 who attempted to overtake the terrorists who had hijacked their plane, which was believed to be headed for a target in Washington, DC. The plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

Subcultures

Political subcultures are distinct groups, associated with particular beliefs, values, and behavior patterns, that exist within the overall framework of the larger culture. They can develop around groups with distinct interests, such as those based on age, sex, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, and sexual preference. Subcultures also can be geographically based. Political scientist Daniel Elazar identified regional political subcultures, rooted in American immigrant settlement patterns, that influenced the way that government was constituted and practiced in different locations across the nation. The moral political subculture, which is present in New England and the Midwest, promotes the common good over individual values. The individual political subculture, which is evident in the middle Atlantic states and the West, is more concerned with private enterprise than societal interests. The traditional political subculture, which is found in the South, reflects a hierarchical societal structure in which social and familial ties are central to holding political power (Elazar, 1972). Political subcultures can also form around social and artistic groups and their associated lifestyles, such as the heavy metal and hip-hop music subcultures.

Media Frames

The Hip-Hop Subculture

A cohort of black Americans has been labeled the hip-hop generation by scholars and social observers. The hip-hop generation is a subculture of generation X (people born between 1965 and 1984) that identifies strongly with hip-hop music as a unifying force. Its heroes come from the ranks of prominent music artists, including Grandmaster Flash, Chuck D, Run DMC, Ice Cube, Sister Souljah, Nikki D, and Queen Latifah. While a small number of people who identify with this subculture advocate extreme politics, including violence against political leaders, the vast majority are peaceful, law-abiding citizens (Kitwana, 2002).

The hip-hop subculture emerged in the early 1970s in New York City. Hip-hop music began with party-oriented themes, but by 1982 it was focusing heavily on political issues. Unlike the preceding civil rights generation—a black subculture of baby boomers (people born immediately after World War II) that concentrated on achieving equal rights—the hip-hop subculture does not have an overarching political agenda. The messages passed on to the subculture by the music are highly varied and often contradictory. Some lyrics express frustration about the poverty, lack of educational and employment opportunities, and high crime rates that plague segments of the black community. Other songs provide public service messages, such as those included on the Stop the Violence album featuring Public Enemy and MC Lyte, and Salt-N-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk about AIDS.” Music associated with the gangsta rap genre, which was the product of gang culture and street wars in South Central Los Angeles, promotes violence, especially against women and authority figures, such as the police. It is from these lyrics that the mass media derive their most prominent frames when they cover the hip-hop subculture (Marable, 2002).

Media coverage of the hip-hop subculture focuses heavily on negative events and issues, while ignoring the socially constructive messages of many musicians. The subculture receives most of its media attention in response to the murder of prominent artists, such as Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., or the arrest of musicians for violating the law, usually for a weapons- or drug-related charge. A prominent news frame is how violence in the music’s lyrics translates into real-life violence. As hip-hop music became more popular with suburban white youth in the 1990s, the news media stepped up its warnings about the dangers of this subculture.

Media reports of the hip-hop subculture also coincide with the release of successful albums. Since 1998, hip-hop and rap have been the top-selling record formats. The dominant news frame is that the hip-hop subculture promotes selfish materialist values. This is illustrated by news reports about the cars, homes, jewelry, and other commodities purchased by successful musicians and their promoters (Lewis, 2003).

Media coverage of hip-hop tends to downplay the positive aspects of the subculture.

Although the definition of political culture emphasizes unifying, collective understandings, in reality, cultures are multidimensional and often in conflict. When subcultural groups compete for societal resources, such as access to government funding for programs that will benefit them, cultural cleavages and clashes can result. As we will see in the section on multiculturalism, conflict between competing subcultures is an ever-present fact of American life.

Multiculturalism

One of the hallmarks of American culture is its racial and ethnic diversity. In the early twentieth century, the playwright Israel Zangwill coined the phrase “ melting pot ” to describe how immigrants from many different backgrounds came together in the United States. The melting pot metaphor assumed that over time the distinct habits, customs, and traditions associated with particular groups would disappear as people assimilated into the larger culture. A uniquely American culture would emerge that accommodated some elements of diverse immigrant cultures in a new context (Fuchs, 1990). For example, American holiday celebrations incorporate traditions from other nations. Many common American words originate from other languages. Still, the melting pot concept fails to recognize that immigrant groups do not entirely abandon their distinct identities. Racial and ethnic groups maintain many of their basic characteristics, but at the same time, their cultural orientations change through marriage and interactions with others in society.

Over the past decade, there has been a trend toward greater acceptance of America’s cultural diversity. Multiculturalism celebrates the unique cultural heritage of racial and ethnic groups, some of whom seek to preserve their native languages and lifestyles. The United States is home to many people who were born in foreign countries and still maintain the cultural practices of their homelands.

Multiculturalism has been embraced by many Americans, and it has been promoted formally by institutions. Elementary and secondary schools have adopted curricula to foster understanding of cultural diversity by exposing students to the customs and traditions of racial and ethnic groups. As a result, young people today are more tolerant of diversity in society than any prior generation has been. Government agencies advocate tolerance for diversity by sponsoring Hispanic and Asian American/Pacific Islander heritage weeks. The US Postal Service has introduced stamps depicting prominent Americans from diverse backgrounds.

Americans celebrate their multicultural heritage by maintaining traditions associated with their homelands.

Despite these trends, America’s multiculturalism has been a source of societal tension. Support for the melting pot assumptions about racial and ethnic assimilation still exists (Hunter & Bowman, 1996). Some Americans believe that too much effort and expense is directed at maintaining separate racial and ethnic practices, such as bilingual education. Conflict can arise when people feel that society has gone too far in accommodating multiculturalism in areas such as employment programs that encourage hiring people from varied racial and ethnic backgrounds (Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 1999).

Enduring Images

The 9/11 Firefighters’ Statue

On 9/11 Thomas E. Franklin, a photographer for Bergen County, New Jersey’s Record , photographed three firefighters, Billy Eisengrein, George Johnson, and Dan McWilliams, raising a flag amid the smoldering rubble of the World Trade Center. Labeled by the press “the photo seen ‘round the world,” his image came to symbolize the strength, resilience, and heroism of Americans in the face of a direct attack on their homeland.

Developer Bruce Ratner commissioned a nineteen-foot-tall, $180,000 bronze statue based on the photograph to stand in front of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) headquarters in Brooklyn. When the statue prototype was unveiled, it revealed that the faces of two of the three white firefighters who had originally raised the flag had been replaced with those of black and Hispanic firefighters. Ratner and the artist who designed the statue claimed that the modification of the original image represented an effort to promote America’s multicultural heritage and tolerance for diversity. The change had been authorized by the FDNY leadership (Dreher, 2002).

The modification of the famous photo raised the issue of whether it is valid to alter historical fact in order to promote a cultural value. A heated controversy broke out over the statue. Supporters of the change believed that the statue was designed to honor all firefighters, and that representing their diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds was warranted. Black and Hispanic firefighters were among the 343 who had lost their lives at the World Trade Center. Kevin James of the Vulcan Society, which represents black firefighters, defended the decision by stating, “The symbolism is far more important than representing the actual people. I think the artistic expression of diversity would supersede any concern over factual correctness.” [1]

Opponents claimed that since the statue was not meant to be a tribute to firefighters, but rather a depiction of an actual event, the representation needed to be historically accurate. They drew a parallel to the famous 1945 Associated Press photograph of six Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II and the historically precise memorial that was erected in Arlington, Virginia. Opponents also felt that it was wrong to politicize the statue by making it part of a dialogue on race. The proposed statue promoted an image of diversity within the FDNY that did not mirror reality. Of the FDNY’s 11,495 firefighters, 2.7 percent are black and 3.2 percent are Latino, percentages well below the percentage these groups represent in the overall population.

Some people suggested a compromise—two statues. They proposed that the statue based on the Franklin photo should reflect historical reality; a second statue, celebrating multiculturalism, should be erected in front of another FDNY station and include depictions of rescue workers of diverse backgrounds at the World Trade Center site. Plans for any type of statue were abandoned as a result of the controversy.

The iconic photograph of 9/11 firefighters raising a flag near the rubble of the World Trade Center plaza is immortalized in a US postage stamp. Thomas Franklin, the veteran reporter who took the photo, said that the image reminded him of the famous Associated Press image of Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.

Key Takeaways

Political culture is defined by the ideologies, values, beliefs, norms, customs, traditions, and heroes characteristic of a nation. People living in a particular political culture share views about the nature and operation of government. Political culture changes over time in response to dramatic events, such as war, economic collapse, or radical technological developments. The core American values of democracy and capitalism are vested in the American creed. American exceptionalism is the idea that the country has a special place in the world because of the circumstances surrounding its founding and the settling of a vast frontier.

Rituals, traditions, and symbols bond people to their culture and can stimulate national pride. Folklore consists of stories about a nation’s leaders and heroes; often embellished, these stories highlight the character traits that are desirable in a nation’s citizens. Heroes are important for defining a nation’s political culture.

America has numerous subcultures based on geographic region; demographic, personal, and social characteristics; religious affiliation, and artistic inclinations. America’s unique multicultural heritage is vested in the various racial and ethnic groups who have settled in the country, but conflicts can arise when subgroups compete for societal resources.

• What do you think the American flag represents? Would it bother you to see someone burn an American flag? Why or why not?
• What distinction does the text make between beliefs and values? Are there things that you believe in principle should be done that you might be uncomfortable with in practice? What are they?
• Do you agree that America is uniquely suited to foster freedom and equality? Why or why not?
• What characteristics make you think of someone as particularly American? Does race or cultural background play a role in whether you think of a person as American?

Bennett, W. L., Public Opinion in American Politics (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980), 368.

Dreher, R., “The Bravest Speak,” National Review Online , January 16, 2002.

Elazar, D. J., American Federalism: A View From the States, 2nd ed. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1972).

Elazar, D. J., The American Mosaic (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1994).

Fuchs, L. H., The American Kaleidoscope . (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1990).

George Washington’s Mount Vernon, “Did George Washington really throw a silver dollar across the Potomac River?,” accessed February 3, 2011, http://www.mountvernon.org/knowledge/index.cfm/fuseaction/view/KnowledgeID/20 .

George Washington’s Mount Vernon, “Is it true that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree when he was a boy?,” accessed February 3, 2011, http://www.mountvernon.org/knowledge/index.cfm/fuseaction/view/KnowledgeID/21 .

Ginsberg, B. and Herbert Weissberg, “Elections and the Mobilization of Popular Support,” American Journal of Political Science 22, no.1 (1978): 31–55.

Greenstein, F. I., Children and Politics (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1969).

Hunter, J. D. and Carl Bowman, The State of Disunion (Charlottesville, VA: In Media Res Educational Foundation, 1996).

Inglehart, R., Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).

Kitwana, B., The Hip-Hop Generation (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002).

Lewis, A., “Vilification of Black Youth Culture by the Media” (master’s thesis, Georgetown University, 2003).

Marable, M., “The Politics of Hip-Hop,” The Urban Think Tank , 2 (2002). http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/594.html .

McClosky, H. and John Zaller, The American Ethos (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987).

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Retro-Politics: The Political Typology (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, November 11, 1999).

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Values Survey (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, March 2009).

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Views of Business and Regulation Remain Unchanged (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, February 21, 2001).

Sullivan, J. L., James Piereson, and George E. Marcus, Political Tolerance and American Democracy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982).

Walters, P., “Michael Jordan: The New American Hero” (Charlottesville VA: The Crossroads Project, 1997).

Wilson, R. W., “American Political Culture in Comparative Perspective,” Political Psychology , 18, no. 2 (1997): 483–502.

Yin, S., “Shifting Careers,” American Demographics , 23, no. 12 (December 2001): 39–40.

• “Ground Zero Statue Criticized for ‘Political Correctness,’” CNN , January 12, 2002, http//www.cnn.com. ↵

American Government and Politics in the Information Age Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Role of Political Culture in The USA

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The Political Culture of The United States

Similarly, it is usually consensual because America has an expansive base of mutual political principles and experiences fewer conflicts. The struggles usually take place because Americans differ on the ways of enactment of the shared political values and not on the fundamental beliefs themselves. Numerous essential features have branded the American political culture. These principles comprise of liberty, equality, democracy, and individualism, the rule of law, nationalism, capitalism, unity, diversity, and civic duty.

Liberty is one of the fundamental components describing the American political culture. Fight for freedom was a catalyst for the American Revolution and thus became the reason of the U.S. independence. Liberty is known as a right of the people to do what they want. It refers to the belief of being free as long as other persons’ privileges are not neglected or affected. The United States Constitution outlines the government organization, as the Bill of Rights assures some of the nation explicit liberties.

Individuals should have freedom to control their financial affairs without let or hindrance from the government. This right has had impact on the origin and development of the American economic system. In the 19th century, the American economy was founded on laissez-faire capitalism, a monetary assembly in which the administration played almost no part in creating, dispensing, or regulating the manufacture and supply of goods. It is nevertheless important to note that nowadays people need some governmental involvement in the economy although to be partial in range.

All Americans have the same essential rights regardless of the poverty rate or differences in cultural upbringing. Although no two individuals are same, under the American law they are considered equal. The fundamental beliefs in equality of opportunity and fair handling have significantly influenced the political system. Political equality holds that everybody is treated equally in the political arena. Everyone has the same standing under the law. Every person is eligible to legal representation and gets equal treatment under the law.

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People are to follow the rules irrespective of race, religion, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. In return, the laws are effective and functional for every citizen. Political equality is referred to as equality of opportunity in the American political culture. According to it, all the Americans have the same chances to contest and succeed in this sphere. Many Americans trust that a person could prosper and be successful albeit their social or financial status, descent or ethnicity. The actions opposing equality of outcome are considered discriminating.

In the process of offering the same results to the people, many industrious and gifted people do not get the victory they merit, as some people are more endowed and diligent than others. Regardless of the political leaders trying to level the playing field so that everyone has equal prospects to be successful, many open-minded social policy activists believe that Americans do not have equal opportunities to succeed. Women are still underpaid as compared with men despite being engaged in related careers, and the matter of education of the African Americans pose the challenge, too. For this reason, equality does not interpret to total fairness.

Individualism

As per this notion, humans are considered to have free will to make selections, join or decline to join groups at their wish. People can make choices that they consider right for themselves, irrespective of what other people think. It is declared that the life of a person belongs to no one but to them. Americans value individualism and admire people of liberated minds who make independent choices.

Before the American Revolution, the safeguarding of individual rights was a hallmark of the American politics. The individual’s rights are above those of the state. Personal accountability and inventiveness are intensely encouraged. Below the American system of government and administrative culture, rugged individualism is an epitome of these principles. Individuals have both rights and accountabilities.

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This value is related to the faith in the mutual understanding of people and their capacity of caring for themselves and deciding on their government leaders, too. Rugged characters are those who disregard humanity’s desires and act at their wish. It is well-known that conformism is mutual even in social equality as people attempt to be the same. Similarly, it is vital for the American civil society despite clashing with the ideal of independence.

Nationalism

Irrespective of some present undesirable approaches towards the government, most Americans are proud of their past. They incline to de-emphasize difficulties such as intolerance to army impediments. This value lies in the belief that America is more robust and developed as compared with other countries.

Every American knows and respects their right to possess private property and contest without restrictions in open markets where government intrusion is negligible. Before the late 1800s, most individual fortunes were founded on land ownership. Capitalism obligation became an extra shared political value during the Industrial Revolution supplementing autonomy and independence.

Democracy empowers the society to exercise their supremacy over the government. In America, the citizens are accountable for electing their officials under no duress from any source. On the same note, the designated administrators ought to report to the citizens. Most Americans support strategies that endorse democracy because they believe it is the preeminent method of governance. The American administrative culture depends on majority rule as a significant standard of justice. Essentially, the political leaders who win the majority of votes get the opportunity to run the country.

Likewise, in order for a bill to pass it necessitates the support of the majority of members of the Congress. Under democracy, protection of minority rights is emphasized. The majority rule must not domineer the rights of the minority without counting on substantial reasons. A democratic system calls for representation of all citizens without discriminating their rights and values. America’s efficacious democracy increases the people’s prospects to make a living and not to hinder others’ determinations.

Rule of Law

According to the American political culture, the government ought to be founded on the body of law equally, fairly, and impartially applicable to all the people. Rule of law is in conflict with individual’s rule, as a ruler should not execute their laws and do whatever they wish without consulting with people. Typically, a leader should not use dictatorship means to run the people.

Unity and Diversity

The American political culture embraces national unity. Even though the politicians and the citizens have different opinions on certain issues, they support the country. For instance, in 2005, the volunteer leaders assembled the country by appealing to common feelings of nationalism after the destructions brought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Extensively, Americans have diverse cultural traditions, views, and creeds, but most of them take pride in their heritage and cultural history. Some groups eventually may feel left out because the majority of the American culture stems from the Western European cultures. Multiculturalism is assisting Americans to appreciate one another’s cultures.

Americans are sure that they ought to take part in local affairs and aid out if possible. In the 19th century, it was realizable because Americans had a strong sense of community and individual accountability to support community efforts. Currently, the meaning of community is not as strong as before. Lack of civic duty contributes to falling of American political culture.

Difficulties Associated with American Political Culture

The American political culture has its own difficulties connected with the distrust of the government, the culture wars, political tolerance, and inequality.

Distrust of the Government

Since mid-1960s, credibility of the government and its officials has significantly declined. Most of the Americans are articulating repugnance for politics and politicians. The distrust of government has contributed decidedly to a drop in political efficacy. Significantly, political efficacy comprises of internal and external efficiency. Internal efficiency is a capability to comprehend and take part in administrative matters. Education level and age predispose internal effectiveness.

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External efficiency, in turn, is the confidence of people that the government will react to their private requests. Americans consider that the government is not receptive to the voters. They also believe that the most of the political officials function without much concern for beliefs and opinions of ordinary people. Americans have concluded that the government is too numerous and pervasive to be sensitive to individual citizens. Citizens have distrust to centralization of power and federal system.

Inequality entails discrimination of individual groups in the society. In the American political culture, political fairness is more than the economic impartiality. There is a struggle between liberty connected with entrepreneurship and equality related to democracy. Also, it is important to remember that not al the American society falls under the middle class.

Disparity of proceeds and wealth is a source of political conflicts. Wealth is much more unequally distributed than income. Finally, realization of equality of opportunities to different classes of citizens is becoming a difficulty.

Culture Wars

Americans share broad cultural and political values. Culture wars depend on individual and group distinctiveness. According to Florina, Abrams, and Pope (2011), “Two cultural camps have advanced in America since mid-20th century. The two camps were the orthodox and progressive. These two social classes continuously combat with one another over standards.” The conventional trust in that morality is more significant than individualism with static God-given regulations. They are associated with fundamentalist Protestants.

The progressive people believe that individual self-determination is more vital than custom with varying guidelines and clich?s grounded in situations of contemporary life. Putnam and Campbell (2012) state, “The country has hence split on the basis of political matters such as gay rights, violence, and drug abuse. These culture wars occurred both between and within sacred denominations.”

Political Tolerance

Political tolerance permits the citizens to be open-minded to the beliefs and actions of the others. In most cases, people have to tolerate the laws made by the rulers. American political system demonstrates tolerance to different representatives of the U.S. society in paper, but denies their rights in concrete cases. According to Oxtoby and Segal (2011), “Most are willing to allow expression by those with whom they disagree. In this case, most of the Americans agree with freedoms of speech and religion.”

On the other hand, most people do not like one or another group intensely enough to repudiate their certain political rights. People are enthusiastic to deny human rights to individuals on the conflicting end of the political range. For instance, liberals are mostly expected to deny the rights of right-wing groups.

In conclusion , the American political culture explains political approaches, organizations, and events that are mainly valued in the American society. Countless political debates tend to be related to the popularity of certain political decisions and not by their significance. It is evident that the American political culture has changed over the years, but in many ways it has stayed remarkably the same. These variations are a product of numerous historical, socio-economic, cultural, and ethnic aspects. For this reason, in understanding of the American political culture, the setup of the country’s government and policy choices made by its leaders are clearly explained.

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American Political Culture

Updated 24 November 2023

Subject Political Science ,  Politics

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Category Government

A federal government exists in the United States of America where there is power sharing among the presidency, Congress and the elected courts as indicated by constitution of the U.S.A. The president is guided by the bureau, comprised of the deputy president and other leaders in power, in addition to other governing bodies. Authoritative mandate is given to two councils of Congress, that is, Senate and House of Representatives. The judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court and other lower courts practicing legal mandate.

American politics has been dominated all over the years by the Democrats and Republicans since the Civil war in America. However, there exists other small political parties such as Libertarian, Green and Constitution party. People from outside do not have much impact politically in the United States as in the other fairly smaller nations when it comes to democracy. This can be attributed to the controls that are stringent. The controls were due to the state laws in addition to the government laws, the casual media disallowances, and victor take-all decisions, and in the incorporate vote get to the issues and restrictive confrontation rules. There were decisions by the American presidency, five in number, where champ lost the prevalent vote.

American political culture

The American political culture that Tocqueville portrayed in the 1830s has changed throughout the years, yet from various perspectives, it has remained astoundingly the same, even after the mainland was settled across the nation. The American view has been described by a few well-known components:

Liberty- Most individuals have faith morally justified to be free, as long as another's rights aren't manhandled.

Equality- This, by and large, deciphers as "correspondence of chance," not total balance.

Democracy- Elected authorities are responsible to the general population. Subjects have the obligation to pick their authorities insightfully and astutely.

Individualism- The person's rights are esteemed over those of the state (government); singular activity and obligation are firmly supported.

The Rule of Law- Government depends on an assemblage of law connected similarly and decently, not on the impulses of a ruler.

Nationalism-

Despite some present negative states of mind toward the administration, most Americans are glad for our past and keep an eye on de-underline issues, for example, narrow-mindedness or military difficulties. This esteem incorporates the conviction that we are more grounded and more idealistic than different countries.

Capitalism- At the core of the American Dream are convictions in the rights to claim private property and contend unreservedly in open markets with as meager government inclusion as could reasonably be expected.

The President of the United States (POTUS) serves as head of state and government. They coordinate the legislature and is also the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the US.

In contemporary circumstances, the US president is viewed as the world's most capable political figure and also as the pioneer of the current worldwide superpower. This is due to the obligation regarding the most costly arms with the second largest atomic stock in the world. The president additionally drives a country with the largest economy. The president has noteworthy household and worldwide hard and delicate power.

In Article II the Constitution builds up an official branch of the government. It vests the official power of the country in the president. This includes the execution and authorization of law, the duty of naming legislative official, administrative and legal officers, and finishing up arrangements with outside forces with the guidance and assent of the Senate. The president also gives government exonerates and respites, and to gather and dismiss either or the two places of Congress under phenomenal conditions. The president is also in charge of directing the administration of the gathering to which they are part. The president additionally coordinates the outside and residential approaches of the United States. Moreover, as a major aspect of the arrangement of balanced governance, Article One of the United States Constitution enables the president to sign or veto government enactment. Since the workplace of President was set up in 1789, its energy has developed generously, as has the energy of the government all in all.

Through the Electoral College, the enrolled voters by implication choose the president and VP to a four-year term. This is the main national government decision and the main race that isn't chosen by famous vote] Nine VPs moved toward becoming president by the uprightness of the president's intra-term passing and by abdication.

In the 22nd Amendment, any US subject is blocked from being chosen president the 2nd term. And also forbids anyone to be chosen into administration once if that individual was president or acting president, for two or more years of someone else's presidential reign. Taking all things together, there has been 45 administrations served by 44 people with Grover Cleveland having two non-back to back terms independently spreading over 57 full four-year terms. Officeholder Donald Trump was introduced on January 20, 2017.

The Congress in US is bicameral comprising of two chambers, that is, Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress assembles in the US capital Washington D.C and delegates of the two houses are picked through a direct race. The Congress has 535 elected individuals including 435 Representatives and 100 senators. The House of Representatives has six non-elected officials representing to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin Islands and Washington DC notwithstanding its 435 voting individuals. In spite of the fact that they can't vote, these individuals can sit on congressional boards and present enactment.

In the House of Representatives, you serve two-year terms speaking to the general population on a solitary demographic known as the locale. The locale are allocated the state through populace utilizing the US Census comes about, gave so each state has no less than one agent of the Congress. Every state, paying little heed to populace or size, has two congresspersons. Presently, there are 100 legislators speaking to the 50 states. Every congressperson is chosen to serve a six-year term, and terms amazed, at regular intervals, roughly 33 percent of the Senate is up for decision.

To be qualified for decision, an applicant must be matured no less than 25 of house or 30 of Senate, has been subject to the US for 7 House or 9Senate years, and also a resident of the state which they speak to.

The congress was as a result of a constitutional act of 1789 and ever since it has been pioneered by the Republican and the Democratic Party since the 19th

century and once in a while an outsider or independents.

Goodman, C. (2015). Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Congress: The Lawmakers. The Forum, 13(4). http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/for-2015-0043

Peterson, T. (2004). Green talk in the White House. College Station: Texas A " M University Press.

Wagner, H. (2007). The presidency. New York: Chelsea House.

Watts, D. (2009). The American presidency. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

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Political Culture Essay

Political culture is a deeply and rooted concept in political science, it\’s about core values, beliefs, morals, norms and attitudes that inform political behavior in any society. In each political system there is particular political culture which gives specific meanings and forms for political process. Political culture in a country inherited from one generation to another generation. It also reflects the way people think and feel about political life.

Political culture relates to some political ideas and social democracy like Equality, tolerance, freedom and social welfare. Political culture of a society explains how people affect politics whether through participation in election or voting or participation in decision making, which means culture is considered as a constraints to political system. Political culture may be considered unstated rules like it sets the boundaries of acceptable political behavior in a society.

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The study of political culture arose in time 1960s when Rostow and Lipset talking about political values and its role to reach political development. In 1963, two political scientists, Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba, published a study of the political cultures which entitled (the civic culture: political attitudes and democracy in five nations) associated with five democratic countries: Germany, Italy, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Scholars’ Arguments:

According to Almond and Verba, there are three basic types of political culture, which can be used to explain why people do or do not participate in political processes:

Parochial political culture citizens are mostly uninformed and unaware of their government, they don’t have any tendency to participate in politics, and this type has no role to perform in political system like African tribal societies and Mexico Subject political culture Like Germany and Italy, citizens are somewhat informed and aware of their government and occasionally participate in the political process, this type isn’t tough to participate in politics, sometimes they aren’t allowed to do so. Participant political culture like the United Kingdom and the United States, citizens are informed and actively participate in the political process, in this category huge number of political parties and interest groups are found.

This means that the political systems and the role of participation depends heavily on the type of it’s political culture. On the other hand, Another Contradictory argument, That Rational theorists have argued that participation and particularly voting is considered to be irrational especially in a large country that the probability that one vote will decide the outcome of an election is microscopic, For them Participation has many costs that exceeds the benefits for the voter as: The effort in order to learn about the candidates also it take too much time too vote. They argued that voting process does not make sense for people as an activity.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, for example the American VOTER TURNOUT has been declining. Less than 50% of eligible voters went to vote, in 1996 in the presidential elections. Smaller percentages are routinely reported for congressional elections, and even fewer Americans bother to vote for their local representatives. The United States ranks near the bottom of modern democratic nations who measure voter turnout.

There are many factors that explain the reason of low voter turnout. There are many analysts cite growing alienation among voters. The scandals in the past several decades have engendered a cynicism that has led to a decline through the political interest, especially between the nation\’s young voting population.Individuals believe that its not there vote that would make a difference. Some observers viewed that the decrease in the voter turnout means that Americans at those times felt less certain that they can have an impact than Americans of the 19th century.

On the other hand, political participation may not always be affected by political culture and regulations. As cited by Hilmy Mochtar ‘’Public Participation and Political Culture: A Case Study of Voting Behavior in Jombang Regency ‘’ where he mentioned that political participation was in fact depended on the geographical-economical and socio-religious conditions. Voters’ behavior didn’t depend on culture, but more on daily concrete issues. For example as he mentioned ,if elections candidates use money to influence voters for their sake ,they would respond whatever the candidate’s political program was.

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A Brief History of the Political Essay

From swift to woolf, david bromwich considers an evolving genre.

The political essay has never been a clearly defined genre. David Hume may have legitimated it in 1758 when he classified under a collective rubric his own Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary. “Political,” however, should have come last in order, since Hume took a speculative and detached view of politics, and seems to have been incapable of feeling passion for a political cause. We commonly associate political thought with full-scale treatises by philosophers of a different sort, whose understanding of politics was central to their account of human nature. Hobbes’s Leviathan , Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws , Rousseau’s Social Contract , Mill’s Representative Government , and, closer to our time, Rawls’s Theory of Justice , all satisfy that expectation. What, then, is a political essay? By the late 18th century, the periodical writings of Steele, Swift, Goldsmith, and Johnson had broadened the scope of the English essay for serious purposes. The field of politics, as much as culture, appeared to their successors well suited to arguments on society and government.

A public act of praise, dissent, or original description may take on permanent value when it implicates concerns beyond the present moment. Where the issue is momentous, the commitment stirred by passion, and the writing strong enough, an essay may sink deep roots in the language of politics. An essay is an attempt , as the word implies—a trial of sense and persuasion, which any citizen may hazard in a society where people are free to speak their minds. A more restrictive idea of political argument—one that would confer special legitimacy on an elite caste of managers, consultants, and symbolic analysts—presumes an environment in which state papers justify decisions arrived at from a region above politics. By contrast, the absence of formal constraints or a settled audience for the essay means that the daily experience of the writer counts as evidence. A season of crisis tempts people to think politically; in the process, they sometimes discover reasons to back their convictions.

The experience of civic freedom and its discontents may lead the essayist to think beyond politics. In 1940, Virginia Woolf recalled the sound of German bombers circling overhead the night before; the insect-like irritant, with its promise of aggression, frightened her into thought: “It is a queer experience, lying in the dark and listening to the zoom of a hornet which may at any moment sting you to death.” The ugly noise, for Woolf, signaled the prerogative of the fighting half of the species: Englishwomen “must lie weaponless tonight.” Yet Englishmen would be called upon to destroy the menace; and she was not sorry for their help. The mood of the writer is poised between gratitude and a bewildered frustration. Woolf ’s essay, “Thoughts on Peace in an Air Raid,” declines to exhibit the patriotic sentiment by which most reporters in her position would have felt drawn. At the same time, its personal emphasis keeps the author honest through the awareness of her own dependency.

Begin with an incident— I could have been killed last night —and you may end with speculations on human nature. Start with a national policy that you deplore, and it may take you back to the question, “Who are my neighbors?” In 1846, Henry David Thoreau was arrested for having refused to pay a poll tax; he made a lesson of his resistance two years later, when he saw the greed and dishonesty of the Mexican War: “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” But to Thoreau’s surprise, the window of the prison had opened onto the life of the town he lived in, with its everyday errands and duties, its compromises and arrangements, and for him that glimpse was a revelation:

They were the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I was an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village inn,—a wholly new and rare experience to me. It was a closer view of my native town. I was fairly inside of it. I had never seen its institutions before. This is one of its peculiar institutions; for it is a shire town. I began to comprehend what its inhabitants were about.

Slavery, at that time, was nicknamed “the peculiar institution,” and by calling the prison itself a peculiar institution, and maybe having in mind the adjacent inn as well, Thoreau prods his reader to think about the constraints that are a tacit condition of social life.

The risk of political writing may lure the citizen to write—a fact Hazlitt seems to acknowledge in his essay “On the Regal Character,” where his second sentence wonders if the essay will expose him to prosecution: “In writing a criticism, we hope we shall not be accused of intending a libel.” (His friend Leigh Hunt had recently served two years in prison for “seditious libel” of the Prince Regent—having characterized him as a dandy notorious for his ostentation and obesity.) The writer’s consciousness of provocative intent may indeed be inseparable from the wish to persuade; though the tone of commitment will vary with the zeal and composition of the audience, whether that means a political party, a movement, a vanguard of the enlightened, or “the people” at large.

Edmund Burke, for example, writes to the sheriffs of Bristol (and through them to the city’s electors) in order to warn against the suspension of habeas corpus by the British war ministry in 1777. The sudden introduction of the repressive act, he tells the electors, has imperiled their liberty even if they are for the moment individually exempt. In response to the charge that the Americans fighting for independence are an unrepresentative minority, he warns: “ General rebellions and revolts of an whole people never were encouraged , now or at any time. They are always provoked. ” So too, Mahatma Gandhi addresses his movement of resistance against British rule, as well as others who can be attracted to the cause, when he explains why nonviolent protest requires courage of a higher degree than the warrior’s: “Non-violence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.” In both cases, the writer treats the immediate injustice as an occasion for broader strictures on the nature of justice. There are certain duties that governors owe to the governed, and duties hardly less compulsory that the people owe to themselves.

Apparently diverse topics connect the essays in Writing Politics ; but, taken loosely to illustrate a historical continuity, they show the changing face of oppression and violence, and the invention of new paths for improving justice. Arbitrary power is the enemy throughout—power that, by the nature of its asserted scope and authority, makes itself the judge of its own cause. King George III, whose reign spanned sixty years beginning in 1760, from the first was thought to have overextended monarchical power and prerogative, and by doing so to have reversed an understanding of parliamentary sovereignty that was tacitly recognized by his predecessors. Writing against the king, “Junius” (the pen name of Philip Francis) traced the monarch’s errors to a poor education; and he gave an edge of deliberate effrontery to the attack on arbitrary power by addressing the king as you. “It is the misfortune of your life, and originally the cause of every reproach and distress, which has attended your government, that you should never have been acquainted with the language of truth, until you heard it in the complaints of your people.”

A similar frankness, without the ad hominem spur, can be felt in Burke’s attack on the monarchical distrust of liberty at home as well as abroad: “If any ask me what a free Government is, I answer, that, for any practical purpose, it is what the people think so; and that they, and not I, are the natural, lawful, and competent judges of this matter.” Writing in the same key from America, Thomas Paine, in his seventh number of The Crisis , gave a new description to the British attempt to preserve the unity of the empire by force of arms. He called it a war of conquest; and by addressing his warning directly “to the people of England,” he reminded the king’s subjects that war is always a social evil, for it sponsors a violence that does not terminate in itself. War enlarges every opportunity of vainglory—a malady familiar to monarchies.

The coming of democracy marks a turning point in modern discussions of sovereignty and the necessary protections of liberty. Confronted by the American annexation of parts of Mexico, in 1846–48, Thoreau saw to his disgust that a war of conquest could also be a popular war, the will of the people directed to the oppression of persons. It follows that the state apparatus built by democracy is at best an equivocal ally of individual rights. Yet as Emerson would recognize in his lecture “The Fugitive Slave Law,” and Frederick Douglass would confirm in “The Mission of the War,” the massed power of the state is likewise the only vehicle powerful enough to destroy a system of oppression as inveterate as American slavery had become by the 1850s.

Acceptance of political evil—a moral inertia that can corrupt the ablest of lawmakers—goes easily with the comforts of a society at peace where many are satisfied. “Here was the question,” writes Emerson: “Are you for man and for the good of man; or are you for the hurt and harm of man? It was question whether man shall be treated as leather? whether the Negroes shall be as the Indians were in Spanish America, a piece of money?” Emerson wondered at the apostasy of Daniel Webster, How came he there? The answer was that Webster had deluded himself by projecting a possible right from serial compromise with wrong.

Two ways lie open to correct the popular will without a relapse into docile assent and the rule of oligarchy. You may widen the terms of discourse and action by enlarging the community of participants. Alternatively, you may strengthen the opportunities of dissent through acts of exemplary protest—protest in speech, in action, or both. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. remain the commanding instances in this regard. Both led movements that demanded of every adherent that the protest serve as an express image of the society it means to bring about. Nonviolent resistance accordingly involves a public disclosure of the work of conscience—a demonstrated willingness to make oneself an exemplary warrior without war. Because they were practical reformers, Gandhi and King, within the societies they sought to reform, were engaged in what Michael Oakeshott calls “the pursuit of intimations.” They did not start from a model of the good society generated from outside. They built on existing practices of toleration, friendship, neighborly care, and respect for the dignity of strangers.

Nonviolent resistance, as a tactic of persuasion, aims to arouse an audience of the uncommitted by its show of discipline and civic responsibility. Well, but why not simply resist? Why show respect for the laws of a government you mean to change radically? Nonviolence, for Gandhi and King, was never merely a tactic, and there were moral as well as rhetorical reasons for their ethic of communal self-respect and self-command. Gandhi looked on the British empire as a commonwealth that had proved its ability to reform. King spoke with the authority of a native American, claiming the rights due to all Americans, and he evoked the ideals his countrymen often said they wished to live by. The stories the nation loved to tell of itself took pride in emancipation much more than pride in conquest and domination. “So,” wrote King from the Birmingham City Jail, “I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court because it is morally right, and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances because they are morally wrong.”

A subtler enemy of liberty than outright prejudice and violent oppression is the psychological push toward conformity. This internalized docility inhabits and may be said to dictate the costume of manners in a democracy. Because the rule of mass opinion serves as a practical substitute for the absolute authority that is no longer available, it exerts an enormous and hidden pressure. This dangerous “omnipotence of the majority,” as Tocqueville called it, knows no power greater than itself; it resembles an absolute monarch in possessing neither the equipment nor the motive to render a judgment against itself. Toleration thus becomes a political value that requires as vigilant a defense as liberty. Minorities are marked not only by race, religion, and habits of association, but also by opinion.

“It is easy to see,” writes Walter Bagehot in “The Metaphysical Basis of Toleration,” “that very many believers would persecute sceptics” if they were given the means, “and that very many sceptics would persecute believers.” Bagehot has in mind religious belief, in particular, but the same intolerance operates when it is a question of penalizing a word, a gesture, a wrongly sympathetic or unsympathetic show of feeling by which a fellow citizen might claim to be offended. The more divided the society, the more it will crave implicit assurances of unity; the more unified it is, the more it wants an even greater show of unity—an unmistakable signal of membership and belonging that can be read as proof of collective solidarity. The “guilty fear of criticism,” Mary McCarthy remarked of the domestic fear of Communism in the 1950s, “the sense of being surrounded by an unappreciative world,” brought to American life a regimen of tests, codes, and loyalty oaths that were calculated to confirm rather than subdue the anxiety.

Proscribed and persecuted groups naturally seek a fortified community of their own, which should be proof against insult; and by 1870 or so, the sure method of creating such a community was to found a new nation. George Eliot took this remedy to be prudent and inevitable, in her sympathetic early account of the Zionist quest for a Jewish state, yet her unsparing portrait of English anti-Semitism seems to recognize the nation-remedy as a carrier of the same exclusion it hopes to abolish. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to a widened sense of community is the apparently intuitive—but in fact regularly inculcated—intellectual habit by which we divide people into racial, religious, and ethnic identities. The idea of an international confederation for peace was tried twice, without success, in the 20th century, with the League of Nations and the United Nations; but some such goal, first formulated in the political writings of Kant, has found memorable popular expression again and again.

W. E. B. Du Bois’s essay “Of the Ruling of Men” affords a prospect of international liberty that seems to the author simply the next necessary advance of common sense in the cause of humanity. Du Bois noticed in 1920 how late the expansion of rights had arrived at the rights of women. Always, the last hiding places of arbitrary power are the trusted arenas of privilege a society has come to accept as customary, and to which it has accorded the spurious honor of supposing it part of the natural order: men over women; the strong nations over the weak; corporate heads over employees. The pattern had come under scrutiny already in Harriet Taylor Mill’s “Enfranchisement of Women,” and its application to the hierarchies of ownership and labor would be affirmed in William Morris’s lecture “Useful Work Versus Useless Toil.” The commercial and manufacturing class, wrote Morris, “ force the genuine workers to provide for them”; no better (only more recondite in their procedures) are “the parasites” whose function is to defend the cause of property, “sometimes, as in the case of lawyers, undisguisedly so.” The socialists Morris and Du Bois regard the ultimate aim of a democratic world as the replacement of useless by useful work. With that change must also come the invention of a shared experience of leisure that is neither wasteful nor thoughtless.

A necessary bulwark of personal freedom is property, and in the commercial democracies for the past three centuries a usual means of agreement for the defense of property has been the contract. In challenging the sacredness of contract, in certain cases of conflict with a common good, T. H. Green moved the idea of “freedom of contract” from the domain of nature to that of social arrangements that are settled by convention and therefore subject to revision. The freedom of contract must be susceptible of modification when it fails to meet a standard of public well-being. The right of a factory owner, for example, to employ child labor if the child agrees, should not be protected. “No contract,” Green argues, “is valid in which human persons, willingly or unwillingly, are dealt with as commodities”; for when we speak of freedom, “we mean a positive power or capacity of doing or enjoying something worth doing or enjoying.” And again:

When we measure the progress of a society by its growth in freedom, we measure it by the increasing development and exercise on the whole of those powers of contributing to social good with which we believe the members of the society to be endowed; in short, by the greater power on the part of the citizens as a body to make the most and best of themselves.

Legislation in the public interest may still be consistent with the principles of free society when it parts from a leading maxim of contractual individualism.

The very idea of a social contract has usually been taken to imply an obligation to die for the state. Though Hobbes and Locke offered reservations on this point, the classical theorists agree that the state yields the prospect of “commodious living” without which human life would be unsocial and greatly impoverished; and there are times when the state can survive only through the sacrifice of citizens. May there also be a duty of self-sacrifice against a state whose whole direction and momentum has bent it toward injustice? Hannah Arendt, in “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” asked that question regarding the conduct of state officials as well as ordinary people under the encroaching tyranny of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Citizens then, Arendt observes, had live options of political conduct besides passive obedience and open revolt. Conscientious opposition could show itself in public indications of nonsupport . This is a fact that the pervasiveness of conformism and careerism in mass societies makes harder to see than it should be.

Jonathan Swift, a writer as temperamentally diverse from Arendt as possible, shows in “A Modest Proposal” how the human creature goes about rationalizing any act or any policy, however atrocious. Our propensity to make-normal, to approve whatever renders life more orderly, can lead by the lightest of expedient steps to a plan for marketing the babies of the Irish poor as flesh suitable for eating. It is, after all—so Swift’s fictional narrator argues—a plausible design to alleviate poverty and distress among a large sector of the population, and to eliminate the filth and crowding that disgusts persons of a more elevated sort. The justification is purely utilitarian, and the proposer cites the most disinterested of motives: he has no financial or personal stake in the design. Civility has often been praised as a necessity of political argument, but Swift’s proposal is at once civil and, in itself, atrocious.

An absorbing concern of Arendt’s, as of several of the other essay writers gathered here, was the difficulty of thinking. We measure, we compute, we calculate, we weigh advantages and disadvantages—that much is only sensible, only logical—but we give reasons that are often blind to our motives, we rationalize and we normalize in order to justify ourselves. It is supremely difficult to use the equipment we learn from parents and teachers, which instructs us how to deal fairly with persons, and apply it to the relationship between persons and society, and between the manners of society and the laws of a nation. The 21st century has saddled persons of all nations with a catastrophic possibility, the destruction of a planetary environment for organized human life; and in facing the predicament directly, and formulating answers to the question it poses, the political thinkers of the past may help us chiefly by intimations. The idea of a good or tolerable society now encompasses relations between people at the widest imaginable distance apart. It must also cover a new relation of stewardship between humankind and nature.

Having made the present selection with the abovementioned topics in view—the republican defense against arbitrary power; the progress of liberty; the coming of mass-suffrage democracy and its peculiar dangers; justifications for political dissent and disobedience; war, as chosen for the purpose of domination or as necessary to destroy a greater evil; the responsibilities of the citizen; the political meaning of work and the conditions of work—an anthology of writings all in English seemed warranted by the subject matter. For in the past three centuries, these issues have been discussed most searchingly by political critics and theorists in Britain and the United States.

The span covers the Glorious Revolution and its achievement of parliamentary sovereignty; the American Revolution, and the civil war that has rightly been called the second American revolution; the expansion of the franchise under the two great reform bills in England and the 15th amendment to the US constitution; the two world wars and the Holocaust; and the mass movements of nonviolent resistance that brought national independence to India and broadened the terms of citizenship of black Americans. The sequence gives adequate evidence of thinkers engaged in a single conversation. Many of these authors were reading the essayists who came before them; and in many cases (Burke and Paine, Lincoln and Douglass, Churchill and Orwell), they were reading each other.

Writing Politics contains no example of the half-political, half-commercial genre of “leadership” writing. Certain other principles that guided the editor will be obvious at a glance, but may as well be stated. Only complete essays are included, no extracts. This has meant excluding great writers—Hobbes, Locke, Wollstonecraft, and John Stuart Mill, among others—whose definitive political writing came in the shape of full-length books. There are likewise no chapters of books; no party manifestos or statements of creed; nothing that was first published posthumously. All of these essays were written at the time noted, were meant for an audience of the time, and were published with an eye to their immediate effect. This is so even in cases (as with Morris and Du Bois) where the author had in view the reformation of a whole way of thinking. Some lectures have been included—the printed lecture was an indispensable medium for political ideas in the 19th century—but there are no party speeches delivered by an official to advance a cause of the moment.

Two exceptions to the principles may prove the rule. Abraham Lincoln’s letter to James C. Conkling was a public letter, written to defend the Emancipation Proclamation, in which, a few months earlier, President Lincoln had declared the freedom of all slaves in the rebelling states; he now extended the order to cover black soldiers who fought for the Union: “If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive—even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept.” Lincoln was risking his presidency when he published this extraordinary appeal and admonition, and his view was shared by Frederick Douglass in “The Mission of the War”: “No war but an Abolition war, no peace but an Abolition peace.” The other exception is “The Roots of Honour,” John Ruskin’s attack on the mercenary morality of 19th-century capitalism . He called the chapter “Essay I” in Unto This Last , and his nomenclature seemed a fair excuse for reprinting an ineradicable prophecy.

__________________________________

From Writing Politics , edited by David Bromwich. Copyright © 2020 by David Bromwich; courtesy of NYRB Classics.

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American Political Culture History Essay

All the six previous presidents of America were rich and well educated except President Andrew Jackson who was elected in 1828. He hailed from a poor background in Carolina. During this time, the American culture was very diverse. The new president had promised to work towards its further improvement. He brought new laws that replaced some of the cultural practices. For instance, a woman would be allowed to own property even after getting married (Bettye 1).

According to Tocqueville, there is great love for money in America. This had grown into an extent that materialism I given top priority in the development of democracy. In any case, democracy can hardly grow without injecting a lot of financial resources into the political system. Art and architecture remained strong pillars in the culture of America. The Hudson River School artists were doing very well during this era.

These artists included Doughty Thomas, John Kensett, Innes George and Cole Thomas. They made several paintings on nature and depicted the beauty of the natural features that were in the United States. They also made designs of most monuments and great buildings in the region (‘American Political Culture’ par.1). Tocqueville refutes journalists by asserting that they are not superb writers. However, they are very influential in their own countries.

In terms of revolution, the seemingly oppressed black people are more likely to be the key players in causing a major social transformation in America. Lack of equity in the socio-political arena has been a major source of discontent among the black Americans for a very long time. Tocqueville is also categorical that there has never been equity between men and women in America in spite of several calls for the same.

The American voters have a unique understanding of those who represent them. The political representatives in various positions are expected to make laws and also safeguard the interests of the same legislative body. There is a lot of trust bestowed on the law making body. This has enhanced democracy. They have also been members of associations that are considered to be democratic (‘A Portrait of America’ 1).

The cultural activities and works were written in books of history, Journals, poetry books and newspapers. Tales were written in books of humor and some of the settlers’ previous activities were also documented in books and other forms of literature. Books that were written during this decade included nature, bible and the Mormon book. It is during this time that America experienced high rates of immigration and migration.

More land was acquired to cater for the rising need. Mississippi that was occupied by Indians was included in the settlement scheme. Mifflin (1) explains that the Indians who had settled there were relocated to the Indian territories. All these activities took place in the year 1831. The roads that had been constructed to facilitate transportation of these people ended in 1838 and covered Illinois, Vandalia and the Ohio and Erie canal. Virgin land was cleared from trees and bushes.

Tocqueville observed that it is not possible to deter people from coming together, celebrating and making certain resolutions. In reference to town governments, Tocqueville noted that the several buildings that make up towns are similar to people. Little control can be exercised against them.

When cotton prices went down due to the concentration on constructing of roads, a period of economic depression came into being. Corn was the only crop that sustained the region before cotton prices stabilized. The advantage that the people had is that the land was still fertile. Hence, corn was harvested in large amounts.

Works Cited

‘ American Political Culture ’. Philadelphia Independence Hall Association . 2013. Web.

‘ A Portrait of America ’ . Eyewitnesses to history. 2008. Web.

Bettye, Sutton. Kingwood College American Cultural History . 2003. Web.

Mifflin, Houghton. Summary: Age of Jackson . New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 11). American Political Culture History. https://ivypanda.com/essays/democracy-in-america-2/

"American Political Culture History." IvyPanda , 11 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/democracy-in-america-2/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'American Political Culture History'. 11 January.

IvyPanda . 2024. "American Political Culture History." January 11, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/democracy-in-america-2/.

1. IvyPanda . "American Political Culture History." January 11, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/democracy-in-america-2/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "American Political Culture History." January 11, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/democracy-in-america-2/.

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