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"The Three Political Cultures" by Daniel J Elazar
"The US is...inhabited by a single people of great diversity."
It has a single political culture and many subcultures.
Policital culture:
Patterns of political attitudes
Expectations of purpose/nature of government and poli. process
Who works in the government
Interacting with government and civic behavior (ethics, conscience,)
The US's three subcultures:
Each tied to an original region and carried by migration. Systems of
"marketplace and the commonwealth"
Each is a framework rather than an absolute set of ideas, and
changes over time like other cultures
- Individualistic
Government is a service to people and doesn't have goals other
than serving its people individually.
Keep private activities private, and the government should only
regulate public activities (like economic marketplace), but be
small gov't
Politics is viewed as a career and a way to better oneself (be
compensated) by providing good services for the public.
Political life is a system of mutual obligations, on a
person-to-person basis for small org but person-to-party basis
for federal or state (for ex.)
Okay with corruption and limited ideological purity. Deal-making
and maintaining a mostly beneficial political system for
constituents is viewed as best practice.
- Moralistic
Government is focused on developing commonwealth or "greater
good."
Morality of politicians is important because the trades that
happen are means to establish a good society.
Community and gov't (if necessary) can intervene in private life
if for public welfare. (Communitarian)
Many believe that greater good can be best served by community
involvement, wary of government encroachment, and economically.
Sometimes support social intervention like censorship.
Party regularity is unimportant because politicians are expected
to work towards a good society, regardless of nonpartisan, third
party, or even cross-party alliance.
Amateur participation is expected because politics is not
supposed to be a profitable business, and corruption deterred.
Support and accept increased government footprint, and allow
bureaucracy and merit systems.
- Traditionalistic
"Paternalistic and elitist conception of the commonwealth"
Government maintains a strict hierarchy and supports itself as a
small group of established elite with family ties or social
position.
Expects that any (even minimal) participant in political culture
have a definite role to play and gain personally (although not
always pecuniarily).
Believe that political parties are unimportant except to recruit
for undesirable offices.
Political leaders are "conservative and custodial"
Anti-bureaucratic, support informal relationship-based systems
to maintain the hierarchy (because bureaucracy -> merit).
Geographically, established early in the colonies. DC, VA, PA area
individualistic. North is moralistic and South is traditional. These
typically extend westward, and the individualistic tribe is less
established than the other two, but very often mixes with moralistic.
Interactions:
- moralistic + individualistic balance each other's respective
tendencies to overreach into personal life and to allow society to
degrade.
- traditionalistic order, while often damaging to opressed groups,
helps create (when functioning properly) a benevolent elite for
political power but has the same danger as oligarchy.
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