Introduction
Culture is the combination of customs, social institutions, arts, media, and social, economic, and political achievements of a social group. It can be seen as a “catch-all” for so many factors of social behavior, habits, and traditions found in a society, including norms (standard practices, rules, patterns, and behaviors that are considered acceptable in a society). In some situations, the inability or unwillingness to abide by cultural norms can result in punishments and violence. Some scholars have argued that norms can have a significant influence on political behaviors.
Michele Gelford, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland, wrote the book Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire the World. She argues that cultures that enforce strict adherence to norms tend to have greater control over their own populations, often less crime, and the promotion of self-control among individuals. In contrast, countries that do not promote strict adherence to norms may be more disorganized and have potentially higher crime, but are more open to other ideas, cultures, and ways of life. Also, interestingly, she suggests that cultures that do not have a strict adherence to norms tend to perform better in the open market, and experience strong economic outcomes. In explaining how cultures tend to adopt strict or loose adherence to norms, Gelford wrote:
There’s a hidden logic for why these differences evolve: groups that have experienced a lot of threat tend to be tighter. The threat can come from a variety of sources, such as a high level of natural disasters and famine, a scarcity of resources, the potential of invasions, a high population density, economic uncertainty, etc. It makes sense: Groups under threat need rules to coordinate to survive. Cultures that have less threat can afford to be more permissive. There are exceptions, but I’ve found that this general principle helps to explain tight-loose differences across nations, states, social classes, organisations and in pre-industrial societies. (Gelford, 2019)
In light of historical origins, present-day strains and stresses, and ambitions to acquire or attain certain goals, cultural norms will evolve to adapt to their environment. In evaluating data on political, social, and economic measures within 30 different countries, researchers found that cultures with either too-strict or too-loose adherence to cultural norms also had lower levels of happiness and higher rates of suicide. Conversely, cultures that had more moderate adherence to norms were among the happiest and most economically successful countries.
Political culture is a shared set of ideological views and beliefs held by a population as it relates to the political system in which they live. A number of factors are related to how political culture manifests in different cultures.
- Trust is the extent to which citizens believe in the reliability, validity, or truth of their government and their fellow citizens. It plays a significant role in political outcomes. For instance, if citizens do not trust the election process, how likely will their representative political parties be willing to accept election results? Accepting election results, even when your party has lost, is an important and foundational feature of any democracy. If trust does not exist, what are the chances that institutions can perform their functions? The odds of political conflict and violence increase as the level of trust decreases.
- Postmaterialism is the extent to which a political culture focuses or cares about issues that are not of immediate physical and material concern, such as human rights and environmental concerns.
Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba have also studied the importance and influence of political culture worldwide. Their contribution, The Civic Culture, recognizes three types of political culture as it relates to political participation and interaction with their political systems.
- A parochial system exists when citizens are not interested, and do not care to become interested, in the politics of their countries.
- A subject system occurs when citizens are somewhat aware and responsive to their governmental systems. Yet, at the same time, heavily controlled and legislated by their governments. In this system, there is no room for opposition or dissent, they are merely subjects to the government and must abide by the laws or rules or face punishment or violence. This system tends to be aligned with authoritarian regimes.
- The participant system is one where citizens are aware of government actions, are able to influence and participate in governmental decisions, and at the same time, they must abide by the laws and rules of the government. This system tends to be aligned with democratic regimes.
