Political Culture

A political system is not merely a matter of roles and structures. There is always something more to it: it is its culture. Just as we can know about a man not merely by looking at his outward bodily behaviour but also by looking inside him, into his habits, attitudes, and beliefs, so we can study a political system by observing not only the outward behaviour of its component units, structures and roles, but also the habits, attitudes and beliefs of the individuals performing these roles, which is the culture of the political system.

Therefore, to know about the political system it is necessary to know about its actual performance as well as the underlying propensities, which constitute its political culture. Political culture means the attitudes, beliefs, values and skills of the population as well as the special propensities and patterns which are found within separate parts of the population.

While the political culture is common to the whole population, the special propensities and tendencies are found in particular classes, ethnic groups or tribes, castes, etc., and also among the groups performing definite roles in the political system. They constitute its subcultures. The more we know about the structure and culture of a political system, the more we know about its performance and present and future developments. “As we learn about the structure and culture of a political system, our capacity to characterise its properties, and to predict and explain its performance, is improved.”

 

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