American Political Culture - What Americans Believe in and How It Influences Their Political Participation

foreign languages
general courses

The purpose of the class is to demonstrate the interdependence between the normative/axiological background of the political system and political behavior of people as citizens and voters.

Classroom

The course discusses the problem of political culture in the United States. It explains the relationship between political process and values, beliefs and attitudes of American society. We are going to study when, why, and how Americans participate in politics. We are also going to examine their attitudes to political institutions and the way they see themselves in the system. We are going to look at the way public opinion is formed and how it impacts on the dynamics of American politics.

The course discusses the problem of political culture in the United States. It explains the relationship between political process and values, beliefs and attitudes of American society. We are going to study when, why, and how Americans participate in politics. We are also going to examine their attitudes to political institutions and the way they see themselves in the system. We are going to look at the way public opinion is formed and how it impacts on the dynamics of American politics.

Other problems that will be discussed during the course:

• regional variations of political culture;

• socialization and acquisition of political beliefs;

• norms and values in electoral politics;

• patterns of political participation in America;

• social capital;

• values manifested in American politics.

Voting behavior of Americans

American political parties

social movements in American history

Polarization, Populism and American democracy in the 21st century.

basic texts (selected chapters)

Almond Gabriel, Verba Sidney, Civic Culture. Political Attitudes in Five Nations, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963

Elazar Daniel J. The American Mosaic: The Impact of Space, Time, and Culture on American Politics, Boulder: Westview, 1994

Ellis Richard J., American Political Cultures, New York: Oxford University Press, 1993

Sabato and O'Connor American government. - basic textbook

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a selection from the following list. (depending on students' research interests) for individual use.

Chinni Dante, James Gimpel. Our Patchwork Nation: The Surprising Truth about the “Real” America, New York: Gotham Books, 2010

Gelman Andrew, Park David, Shor Boris, Cortina Jeronimo, Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2010

Himmelfarb Gertrude, One Nation, Two Cultures, New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1999

Garreau Joel. The Nine Nations of North America, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981

Woodard Colin, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. New York: Viking, 2011

Brint Michael, A Genealogy of Political Culture, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991

Parenti Michael, Land of Idols. Political Mythology in America, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994

Campbell James, Polarized. Making sense of a Divided America, Princeton, NJ ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, 2016

Carpini Michael, Keeter Scott, What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters, New Haven : Yale University Press, 1996

Jeffrey Jones, Entertaining Politics. New Political Television and Civic Culture, 2005 (chapter 9: Entertaining Politics in American Civic Culture), Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005

Peter Dahlgrem, “Reconfiguring Civic Culture in the New Media Milieu”, in Media and the Restyling of Politics, ed. Corner John, Pels Dick, London: SAGE Publications, 2003

Milbrath Lester, Goel M. L., Political Participation. How and Why do People Get Involved in Politics?, Lanham: University Press of America, 1982

Street John, Politics and Popular Culture, Cambridge : Polity Press, 1997

Greenstone Davis, Political Culture and American Political Development, “Studies in American Political Development”, vol. 1 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), pp 1-49.

Fuchs Lawrence H., The American Kaleidoscope: Race, Ethnicity, and the Civic Culture, London: University Press of New England, 1995

Bridges Thomas, The Culture of Citizenship. Inventing Postmodern Civic Culture, Washington, D.C.: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1997

KNOWLEDGE

Upon completing this course a student:

• understands the concept of a political culture;

• knows basic forms of political participation;

• knows how cultural values are manifested in politics;

• knows regional variations of political culture in the United States.

SKILLS

Upon completing this course a student:

• applies the general concept of political culture for the purpose of describing and analyzing American society and politics;

• compares different theories explaining political behavior;

• explains the origins of differences in political culture in different regions of the US;

SOCIAL COMPETENCE

Upon completing this course a student:

• formulates judgments about current political phenomena;

• is aware of the notion of citizenship and agency in a democratic society;

• understands the role of values in politics.

1. accreditation (25%) basic concepts of political culture

2. short term paper (25%) real life of representation of political culture in action- case study demonstrating how values/beliefs influence actions/behavior

3. presentation (25%) American political values - regional, class, ethnic variet of American beliefs/values/attitudes

4. report from data analysis (15%)

5. participation (10%)