Political Culture

The political culture is the science with the set parameters of normative judgement and shared viewpoint according to its population under its active political system. It has the point of view and its legitimate appearance in front of its citizens regarding their thoughts about the political culture. It does impact the active members and their roles in the political system. It refers to the ideas, attitudes, and orientations acceptable to the majority of citizens of the particular state. Hence, there can be diverse opinions and viewpoints about the political culture within a large majority of people. According to Sydney verbs, political culture is the system of values, symbolic expression, and empirical beliefs that state the situation in which political activities occur.

Political culture: development stages

The political culture has distinct development stages that impact the opinions and thoughts of its citizens. The political culture develops just like the political system is constantly developed. On practical grounds, the development of political culture is known as secularisation. Secularisation is the process where the individual in charge of political activities is on the empirical, rational, and analytical grounds. The secularisation separates the modern political system from the traditional political system. The development of political culture differentiates in two basic manners:

• Secularisation
• Differentiation of roles

Political socialisation impacts citizens’ attitudes, opinions and values about the political system and culture. Political orientation has a significant effect relative to three significant aspects:

• Citizen perception
• Thought process
• Opinions

All the above aspects severely impact the political system and its decisions. It refers to the political efficiency of the system. It states that the citizens’ opinions and values can affect the political system positively or negatively while differentiating the fact that what is political culture. Any decisions and policies impact these opinions by activities like voting and certain opinionated efforts.

Components of political culture:

Each political culture has its components according to which its activities take place. This component comprises some aspects according to the citizen orientation regarding several aspects of political culture. The political culture varies its policies and regulations according to these public orientations. These orientations are usually under three categories:

• Cognitive orientation: It is the knowledge and beliefs of the citizens about the political system. It includes public opinions and their reaction to specific political decisions and activities. Citizens often keep a keen interest in specific political decisions and policies amendments. Their knowledgeable approach, active participation, approval, and disapproval impact the political system in a colossal manner.
• Affective orientation: Affective orientation refers to the impact of the feelings and thoughts of citizens on the political culture. The political system affects the expectation and feelings of people from the political decisions, policies, and amenities. It elevates the connection with the political system.
• Evaluative orientation: This public orientation refers to their final opinion and judgements regarding the political system, which defines what is political culture. It relies on previous policies, activities, and political support that the system provides to its citizens. The beliefs and opinions impact the political system’s evaluation and judgement directly or indirectly.

Types of political culture: 

The political culture categorises itself with the ratio of citizens actively participating in the political decisions and putting their thoughts and opinions about the systems forwards. The types of political culture also impact people’s expectations with specific governmental policies, activities, and decisions. The government takes any decision for public well-being and convenient operations. It is also according to the citizen’s request and demand for some special facilities and needs. Below, some significant types of political culture are defined based on citizen opinions and beliefs in the political system. Let’s have a look:

• Parochial political culture: 

People who lack knowledge and awareness about the political system fall under this category. The people under the parochial political culture have no idea about the functioning and operations of political systems. It is why citizens have no judgements and opinions about the political systems.

• Subject political culture:

In this political culture category, citizens attain comprehensive knowledge about political systems, functioning, and operations. The people also have opinions and judgements about various aspects and policies of the political system. The people do not actively amend the decision by putting their thoughts and orientation forward. The individuals in this category act passively and accept the decisions having complete knowledge of the system.

• Participant political culture:

The people under this category of political culture have the activist role with a high-level orientation about the administrative and political structures of the system. These people actively seek out their interests and viewpoints and demand articulation towards the system. It somewhat brings the people’s demand for any policies and decisions towards the system.

• Authoritarian political culture:

In such political culture, all the policies and decisions are according to the single authoritative government or state body. The power of decision-making policies and regulations is authorised for the state or government. The citizen can vote to support the decisions and participate in the approval.

Conclusion:

Here are all the aspects of the political culture which define the authoritative aspects of the system and the orientation and interest of the citizen. Politics is nothing but the public interaction, opinions, expectations, and judgement about the system. The citizen can actively participate in the decision amendment and policymaking by the political system. The active authorities of the political system have the choice to convince regarding their decision and policies. Political culture varies according to the different perceptions of citizens and can reform the opinions and judgement of the public collectively.