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Political culture has been studied most intensively in the context of established Western democracies. Based on surveys conducted in the United States, Britain, West Germany , Italy, and Mexico, this landmark investigation sought to identify the political culture within which a liberal democracy is most likely to develop and consolidate. In a parochial political culture, the citizens are only indistinctly aware of the existence of central government.
In a subject political culture, the citizens see themselves not as participants in the political process but as subjects of the government. In a participant political culture, the citizens believe both that they can contribute to the system and that they are affected by it. This mix is known as civic culture.
In this ideal combination, the citizens are sufficiently active in politics to express their preferences to rulers but not so involved as to refuse to accept decisions with which they disagree. Thus, the civic culture resolves the tension within democracy between popular control and effective governance.
In both countries, the citizens felt that they could influence the government. Following the pioneering footsteps of The Civic Culture , American political scientist Robert Putnam argued that civic community , based on high levels of political interest, social equality, interpersonal trust, and voluntary association, leads to higher probabilities of effective governance and democracy. Political culture is the property of a collectivity—for example, a country, region, class, or party. While most studies of political culture concentrated on national cultures , some studies focused on territorially defined units at the subnational level, such as the political cultures of American states, Canadian provinces, or Italian regions.
Other studies analyzed the cultural attributes of social groups such as the political elite , the working class, and the like. Political culture.
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