Written by Political culture refers to the set of political practices, beliefs, and values that are held by citizens of a state.
In other words, political culture is the value system and belief system of members of a state regarding politics.
It refers to how people behave and acts about politics, as well as people perceptions of the political system of the state.
According to Almond, “Political Culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, notions, faith, and understanding of the political system, political issues, political ideology, and political characters”.
Political culture also refers to the entire body of institutions, practices, and beliefs that constitute a country’s political system.
It is the general feeling, beliefs, and attitudes of citizens towards current political happenings in a country.
Political culture is influenced by a number of variables, including how individuals in positions of authority behave, the pressure and possibilities that the political system creates, as well as the degree of political literacy among the populace.
Components of Political Culture
1. Evaluative orientation: This comprises the judgments of people about the political system of the state.
Evaluative orientation relates to people’s decisions regarding the political system of the state, and how people compare their political system with that of other political systems.
2. Cognitive orientation: This refers to the belief, knowledge, and understanding that people have towards the political system.
In other words, cognitive orientation means to the degree to which people understand the political system.
It also refers to the degree of knowledge citizens have about how government affects their lives and the quantity of information citizens have about the political elements of their political system.
3. Affective orientation: As its name would imply, this concept deals with how individuals feel and perceive the political system.
Affective orientation is the feeling of love or disdain for the political structure of the state. The affective orientation of a person determines whether they support the government or not.
Types Of Political Culture
1. Parochial political culture: This develops when citizens don’t have enough knowledge of the state’s political structure.
Parochial cultures can also develop when individuals are uninterested in or unconcerned with political matters.
States with a parochial culture usually experience situations where citizens do not actively participate in national politics as a result of ignorance of how the government works.
Traditional societies in Asia and Africa still possess some level of parochial culture.
2. Subject political culture: This exists when people have a higher level of political awareness but have low expectations of the government due to the activities of past governments.
Because people have low expectations of the government, political participation is low.
So, people in a subject-cultural society have a high cognitive orientation toward the political system, but they are unable to influence government decision-making because of low level of political participation.
Examples of subject culture can be found in countries like North Korea and China.
3. Participatory Political Culture: As its name implies, citizens take an active role in state politics.
Participatory political culture means members of a state are adequately informed of the importance of political participation and have an high expectations from government.
As a result, they actively participate in politics so as to influence the operations and decision-making of the government.
Examples of participatory culture can be found in countries such as USA, and UK.
Importance of Political Culture
1. It is the cornerstone of political socialization: political culture is at the heart of political socialization.
Political socialization is essentially the transfer of political culture and values from one generation to another.
Therefore, political culture is the foundation upon which the process of political socialization is carried out.
2. Shows the political attitudes of citizens: The study of political culture enables us to understand how individuals behave and how they see politics.
Political culture encompasses all the attitudes and conduct of people towards politics, and we get to know the way and manner in which people behave towards politics by studying the political culture of the people of the state.
3. Helps understand people’s perception of politics: Political culture is also a gauge of how people feel about politics.
Since people’s actions typically reflect their feelings, studying a country’s political culture can help us understand how its population views politics.
