Blog Discussion Group Five
Please answer one question from the following list. Blog "post" due at 11:55pm on October 22 and "comment" due at 11:55pm on October 25.
Political Culture
1. Do you agree with Huntington that today’s world is increasingly characterized by a “clash of civilizations”?
2. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
Interest Groups
3. Discuss evidence for and against the proposition: “All political conflicts—including ethnic, religions, gender, and generational conflicts—ultimately boil down to class conflicts. Rich people tend to be politically favored and poor people are not, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, or age.”
4. Are interest groups good or bad for politics? Should they be limited somehow?
Political Culture
1. Do you agree with Huntington that today’s world is increasingly characterized by a “clash of civilizations”?
2. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
Interest Groups
3. Discuss evidence for and against the proposition: “All political conflicts—including ethnic, religions, gender, and generational conflicts—ultimately boil down to class conflicts. Rich people tend to be politically favored and poor people are not, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, or age.”
4. Are interest groups good or bad for politics? Should they be limited somehow?
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ReplyDeleteAlthough political culture and political ideology are closely related, there are a range of varying, yet subtle differences. Political culture is a widely held set of beliefs for the common good by all people within a republic. Such common beliefs are liberty, freedom, democracy, civic duty, and political efficacy. Ideology is much more specific in that it shows differences, where political culture shows similarities. Political ideologies are more of a personally held set of beliefs that can, in many cases, align themselves with a particular political party. It is difficult to put a label on political ideologies; in the United States, we generally have two sides of a political spectrum. Ideologies that fall on the left end of the spectrum tend to favor believe in labor unions, protecting minority rights, and a less favorable view of war and military spending. While on the right side of the spectrum, we can see beliefs that more align with religious, traditional values, Nationalism, and deregulation of the private sector.
ReplyDeleteHey Andrew!
DeleteI agree with you that political ideologies align with particular political parties. Those parties include liberalism in which they believe that politics should seek to create the maximum degree of liberty for all people, including free speech, and the right of association according to chapter three. Communism believes the struggle over economic resources a small group will eventually come to dominate both the market and the state therefore using wealth to control and exploit society. Socialism believes in private ownership and market forces will maintain economic equality. Fascism believes that people can be classified in terms of inferiority and superiority. Anarchism believes that the states can be a threat to freedom and equality and that they can both be achieved only with the elimination of the state.
Keely
Political culture is different from political ideology because political ideology was first used during the French Revolution and it meant a science of ideas according to chapter three. Political ideology is also the ideal relation between freedom and equality for all individuals and the proper role of political institutions in achieving or maintaining this relation according to chapter three. Political culture refers to a society's norms for political activity according to chapter three. The culture therefore acts as a kind of social road map that establishes what is normal and how things should be prioritized to help individuals organize their lives.
ReplyDeleteKeely
I agree, political culture are societal norms that helps individuals organize their life. In fact, political culture is a determining factor that shapes the regime of the state. On the other hand, political ideology refers to the political values regarding the role and fundamental goal of the state. While the two are different, there is definitely a correlation since political culture can play a role in determing the ideologies in which a state can choose to take on for their regime.
DeleteI agree with Samuel Huntington that today’s world is increasingly characterized by a “Clash of Civilizations.” I do think that with the increase of globalization and interaction between different states and groups of people, it is essential to be able to understand other cultures and identities so that there is less likely to be any tensions or conflicts between groups of differences. There are several groups with different cultural and religious values such a Islam, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and so on- that will not disappear into one group anytime soon. In fact, there are plenty of conflicts that have taken place in the past and still do because of these differences. I like how Huntington puts it, “For the relevant future, there will be no universal civilization, but instead a world of different civilizations, each of which will have to learn to coexist with each other.” Huntington mentions the presence of several other civilizations by taking into account that there are non-Western states that will have increasing presence and importance in the future rather than being just centered in the West; and we have definitely seen the development of non-Western powers over the years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you wrote and like how you interrupt Huntington. I was wondering if you think theres a reason political and cultural violence is more common in some places than others. Do you think that these conflicts are always about values or do they point to something deeper. In addition, what do you see as the most effective way to mitigate these conflicts and prevent them from happening?
Delete-Cade
I agree with your response and appreciate the way you brought in the quote from Huntington. The way that you analyze what Huntington is saying and bring in an example is very helpful in understanding what a "clash of civilizations is". After reading your response I am curious whether you think it is feasible that some point in time there could be a universal civilization, or no because of how different civilizations currently are?
Delete@Cade I think there are reasons as to why violence would occur in the first place and I think values play a huge role in it but also the intentions of the groups resorting to force, whether it is money, power, or expansion. Force is usually used to maintain power so that it is easier to influence actions and decisions regarding politics. I definitely still think that understanding other cultures or groups is an important element, in other words diplomacy. This can be done through study abroad programs, traveling, learning a new language, and so on. It is definitely helpful to become aware about other parts of the world rather than just the United States as interactions with other parts of the worlds need to be reciprocal.
Delete@Sarah I do not think that there could be a universal civilization so I think that is why I agree with Huntington's Clash of Civilizations as I believe it is even more important that we learn about other civilizations so we can find common grounds to work together.
2. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
ReplyDeletePolitical culture is the system of shared political traditions, customs, beliefs and values. Political culture holds value and emotional commitments to the citizens. Political ideology is a body of ideas that reflects the beliefs and interests of a nation, political system, etc and underlies political action. A way that the ideology view differ is because the thoughts and ideas are normally decided by one person.
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ReplyDelete2. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
ReplyDeleteAs depicted in our text Intro to Comparative Politics by Mark Kesselman states that Political culture is fundamental values, beliefs, and orientations that are held by the population of a country and that can affect the way citizens view their government, participate in politics, or assess policies. Now, to differentiate these two terms political ideology is just a blueprint of how beliefs can become factual views as part of the political culture.
I enjoyed reading your response because it provided a more cohesive response than what I was able to submit. We both were able to conclude that political ideology acts as a blueprint on how beliefs become views. Reading your response helped me better understand the question because I felt that your examination of the question answered both parts of the question
DeletePolitical culture and political ideology are very similar and can sometimes be confused with one another. Political culture contains empirical beliefs/cognitions, normative beliefs/values, and emotional commitments. One difference between political ideology and political culture is that culture is transmitted through socialization. This means that political culture is something that is learned, it is cross generational and enduring. Political culture is something like a tool that is available for leaders to use. For example leaders may try to unite people on the basis of a value such as liberty or capitalism. In comparison to political culture, political ideology is a theory about political relationships and the role that the state should have in these relationships. An ideology is a set of specific ideas, attitudes and beliefs that constitute political legitimacy. Lastly an ideology might be a plan that indicates the goals, ideals and tactics pursued by a group. An ideology is different than a culture because although morality is a value that some liberals hold, not all liberals hold this value. We can see that there are some similarities, culture and ideologies both look at beliefs but for example not all people that are committed to equality and fairness (political culture) are socialists (ideology).
ReplyDelete**Correction-
Delete- I meant to say that although morality is a value that some liberals may hold, not everyone who values morality identifies as a liberal, not the other way around like I originally said.
I like how you stated that these terms are often confused with one another and explained the differences, so there wasn’t any confusion. And, added a correction at the end.
Delete2. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
ReplyDeletePolitical culture and political ideology are very similar; however, political culture refers more to widely shared beliefs and how citizens relate to governments and to one another. While political ideology refers to a consistent pattern of beliefs about political values and roles of government. In simpler terms political culture refers more towards the ways in which the population can be persuaded to view their government, or how they participate in it. Political ideology acts more like a template to help shape some political culture.
I agree with your explanation about how political culture and ideology differ. Political culture does focus on the beliefs the citizens gain from the government while political ideology focus on the political valued and the role the government has on the population. Maybe add from examples of ideology like colonialism and communism.
Delete2. How does political culture differ from political ideology?
ReplyDeletePolitical culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments which give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system. It encompasses both the political ideals and the operating norms of a polity. This distinctive and patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out. Some examples of this would be a country, region or party. Political ideology is a certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. This ideology has a consistent pattern of beliefs about political values and the role of government. Some examples of this ideology would be socialism, colonialism and communism.
How does political culture differ from political ideology?
ReplyDeletePolitical culture is defined as "the attitudes, beliefs, values, and symbols that influence political behavior.
Political ideology is defined as "sets of political values held by individuals regarding the fundamental goals of politics."
Political culture is more concerned with the way politics carries out its goals and informs ideology, while political ideology is the set of values that inform political culture and are produced by culture. Examples of ideologies are ideas like communism, liberalism, and socialism. An example of culture, could be the argument over compatibility of Islam with democracy. Religion and culture often have been associated with one another throughout history. According to the surveys completed and discussed in chapter three of Essentials of Comparative politics, democracy as a system could work in countries that primarily believe in Islam, however, there is a want for more religious influence in the politics, which complicates issues that have different political and religious connotations in a country versus the world. Both ideology and culture are a few of many identities that each individual has that shape their world view and understanding of societies.
3. I tend to agree with this proposition but find it a little bit too simplistic. I would say that all conflicts are about power- and that class is usually the tool this arrives in under capitalism. Throughout history, the rich have gotten the working class to fight each other to preserve capitalism. It is clear that capitalism doesn't serve the poor, and that the proletariat makes up a much bigger proportion of the population. If the working class was united, it would lead to class war and the end of bourgeoise rule. To prevent this, the rich work hard to divide the working class. They do this by perpetuating systems such as racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry. If you make White workers hate Black workers and give them a higher wrung on the ladder of hierarchy, then they will be less likely to revolt. This pattern is historical as well. Colonialism is necessary to capitalism, and the birth of systemic racism was an ideological use to justify colonialism. Europeans justified the exploitations of colonized populations by portraying them as lesser. The American slave trade did this too to stop poor southern whites from aligning with Black slaves. If you make people identify with an identity other than class, you can divide them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, this is too simplistic. It is often called "class reductionism" and says that all oppression is class-based and would disappear along with capitalism. This is naive in my opinion. While the beginning of oppressive systems may be based in hierarchy and capitalism, they do not stay that way. Racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, and ableism have been around for so long that they now affect the ways in which our collective subconscious functions. Even without capitalism these hierarchies would most likely still be intact and we would still need to fight them. That is why it is important to empower oppressed communities while pursuing economic liberation and enable leadership from the oppressed.
-Cade