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VII. POLITICAL CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND THE GOOD SOCIETY
A. This section examines how political culture and political identity affect citizens’
1. General hypothesis: citizens living in countries with high levels of social trust
are more likely to be willing to help those with fewer resources achieve “their
full potential as humans.”
2. The general hypothesis will be divided into four hypotheses, which will be
tested using scatter diagrams.
3. Political culture affects capabilities when it is used to construct ethnic or racial
categories that privilege some people and penalize others.
B. Physical well-being
1. First hypothesis: The higher the level of generalized social trust in a country
(independent variable), the lower the rate of infant mortality (dependent
variable).
2. Operationally defining level of social trust
a. Using revised and updated data from the 2005–2008 World Values Survey
covering 57 societies.
3. Infant mortality rates as a proxy for well-being are taken from our data set
used in previous chapters.
4. Results
a. There is modest support for the hypothesis.
b. Infant mortality tends to be lower in countries where there are higher
levels of trust.
c. The scatter diagram shows a negative correlation: it slopes downward
from left to right, showing that the higher the value of the independent
variable (trust), the lower the value of the dependent variable (infant
mortality).
d. As the value of the independent variable (trust) increases, the value of the
dependent variable (infant mortality) decreases.
e. Zambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia are outliers (have extremely
1. The literature on social trust suggests that people living in countries with
higher levels of social trust are more willing to provide all citizens with the
2. If so, then they should be willing to provide everyone with the opportunity to
become literate.
3. Second hypothesis: The higher the level of social trust in a country, the higher
the levels of adult literacy.
Copyright © 2016, 2012, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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4. Results
a. There is modest support for the hypothesis.
b. The higher the level of social trust, the higher the literacy rate.
c. A number of countries do not fit the expected pattern.
d. In Chile, 98.6 percent of adults are literate, yet only 8 percent of people
say most people can be trusted.
e. There are also countries with very similar levels of trust that vary
1. Third hypothesis: Countries with high levels of trust among people will have
lower levels of homicide than those with low levels of trust.
2. Operationally defining homicide rates per 100,000 people from the data set for
The Good Society.
3. Results
a. There is modest support for the hypothesis that the higher the level of trust
in a country, the lower the murder rate.
b. Four countries (Trinidad, Zambia, South Africa, Colombia) have
exceptionally high homicide rates of over 30 per 100,000, and there is no
clear, single variable that explains why their homicide rates are so high.
c. Colombia’s rate is explained in large part by conflict between government
paramilitary forces and rebels funded by the cocaine trade, and by ongoing
gang warfare to control the trade.
4. Results
a. The scatter diagram shows generally strong support for the hypothesis.
b. The higher a country’s level of social trust, the higher is its democracy
index.
c. Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have the highest levels of social trust
and very high democracy scores.
d. Countries with lower levels of social trust also have lower scores on the
democracy index.
e. South Korea’s location in the scatter diagram demonstrates that it is
possible to have a relatively high level of democracy despite a low level of
social trust.
f. China and South Vietnam, two countries with communist party leadership,
are outliers with medium levels of social trust but very low democracy
scores.
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VIII. CONCLUSION
A. The opening section of the chapter defined political culture and then discussed
two approaches to using political culture in the study of comparative politics.
1. The civic culture approach suggests that a mix of citizens with different levels
of participation and interest in politics helps maintain a balance between
keeping governments responsive to citizens and allowing them to operate
without undue disruption and instability.
2. Self-expression approach explains that economic development and social
change contribute to the emergence of self-expression values.
a. These values motivate individuals to challenge authoritarian rule and
demand democracy.
b. They also motivate citizens to demand effective and accountable
government once democracy is established.
3. Also examined is the concept of social capital
a. It explains how social networks and social trust enable individuals to
engage in collective action to challenge authoritarian rule.
b. It helps explain how high levels of social trust enable people to work
together.
c. It is correlated with more effective and accountable democratic
government and with more equal distribution of capabilities in countries.
B. The next section examined three forms of political identity: ethnicity, nationalism,
and religion.
1. In many countries, these political identities can be accommodated peacefully.
In others, identity politics has led to tensions and even to violence.
2. The three main ways of explaining such violence are primordialism,
instrumentalism, and constructivism.
a. Primordial explanations blame the violence on ancient rivalries and hatred.
b. Instrumental explanations assume violence is the result of manipulation by
political leaders for political gain.
c. Constructivism argues that identities are socially constructed, rather than
being inherent in human nature, and that conflict results from the
successful efforts of instigators to link particular incidents or rumors to a
country’s socially constructed master cleavage.
C. The final section tested the hypothesis that higher levels of social trust in a
country are associated with higher levels of capabilities.
1. The hypothesis was supported to various degrees for infant mortality, literacy,
homicide, and democracy.
2. In each test of the hypothesis there were outlying countries, which suggests
that other variables in addition to social trust can be important in determining
levels of infant mortality, literacy, homicide, and democracy.
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REVEL Assets
4.1 Explain how Malala Yousafzai’s experience exemplifies the ways in which identity and
political culture can affect individuals’ capabilities.
Video: Taliban targets schoolgirl Hina Khan for supporting girls’ education
Reading: Malala paid the price for claiming her inalienable right
4.3 Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression approaches to political
culture.
Activity: Comparing Political Cultures
4.5 Describe three identities that can become the basis of identity politics.
Activity: Comparing Identity Politics
4.6 Apply primordial, instrumental, and constructivist approaches to explain how identity
can lead to violent conflict.
Activity: Comparing Political Violence and Civil War
Video: Rwanda Civil War: Genocide
Reading: Communal violence raises fears of turmoil ahead of India election
90
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following statements about culture is correct?
a. Culture predicts that countries with high literacy rates have low levels of social trust.
b. Culture is widely shared values, beliefs, norms, and orientations toward the world.
c. Culture explains why citizens in Middle Eastern countries are hostile to democracy.
d. Culture is located within specific geographic regions.
using the concept to study politics.
Topic: Political Culture
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
2. Which of the following does political culture do?
a. It shapes how people think about their country’s religious institutions.
b. It shapes how people understand political stereotypes.
c. It shapes how people relate to each other as members of a family.
d. It shapes whether citizens feel loyal or rebellious.
Answer: d
Learning Objective: LO 4.2: Define political culture and state the basic assumption of
those using the concept to study politics.
Topic: Political Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
3. Which source would be MOST LIKELY to help determine the accuracy of the assertion
that Muslims in the Middle East prefer authoritarian rule to democracy?
a. Islamic religious texts
b. reports by Americans who have lived in the Middle East
c. news reports from U.S. television networks
d. surveys of attitudes toward democracy in Arab countries
Answer: d
Learning Objective: LO 4.2: Define political culture and state the basic assumption of
those using the concept to study politics.
Topic: Political Culture
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
91
4. A political scientist who uses level of citizen involvement in politics to explain
differences in political institutions between countries in Europe is using the:
a. civic culture approach.
b. self-expression approach.
c. social network approach.
d. social capital approach.
Answer: a
Learning Objective: LO 4.3: Compare and contrast the civic culture and self-expression
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Civic Culture Approach
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
5. A political scientist would predict that the citizens of a country with a high level of
poverty, whose ruler is a religious figure:
a. spend considerable amounts of time organizing and demonstrating against religious
authority.
b. have strong secular and survival values.
c. have strong traditional and survival values.
d. are tolerant of people with different lifestyles and religious beliefs.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
6. According to Ronald Inglehart’s study, the United States and Sweden both rank high on
self-expression values. However, the United States ranks lower in secular values than
Sweden because:
a. Sweden ranks higher in ethnic diversity.
b. the United States ranks lower in literacy rates.
c. Sweden ranks higher on traditional values.
d. in the United States, religion is more important than in Sweden.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
92
7. Some countries in the Middle East have become more economically developed but not
democratic. This development contradicts the:
a. civic culture approach.
b. self-expression approach
c. social capital approach.
d. social trust approach.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
8. Political scientists Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba believe the kind of political culture
necessary to maintain stable and effective democracies is:
a. a democratic political culture.
b. a political culture in which every citizen is politically well-informed.
c. a political culture with a mix of citizens whose levels of political participation
varied.
d. one like the political cultures of the United States, Britain, and Germany.
using the concept to study politics.
Topic: The Civic Culture Approach
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
9. Political scientists using the civic culture approach explain the collapse of democracy in
Germany in the 1930s because:
a. Germany was particularly hard hit by the world depression.
b. Hitler was so effective in rallying supporters.
c. the Nazi party was very effective in using social networks to build support.
d. its political culture did not support its democratic institutions.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Civic Culture Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
93
10. A political scientist investigating whether increases in tolerance toward people of
different religions and ethnicities undermine authoritarian rule would most likely be a
supporter of the:
a. self-expression approach.
b. social capital approach.
c. primordial approach.
d. constructivist approach.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
11. Self-expression values include:
a. valuing freedom of speech, even if the views expressed contradict one’s own views.
b. ensuring your family has enough to eat.
c. putting trust in religious figures to carry out government functions.
e. respecting the authority of leaders and not challenging political decisions.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
12. ___________ is the belief that most people can be trusted, not just one’s family members
or close friends.
a. Bonding behavior
b. Social capital
c. Reciprocity
d. Social trust
democracies do a better job than others of promoting citizens’ capabilities.
Topic: Social Trust
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
94
13. If you wanted to test the hypothesis that increases in self-expression values undermine
support for authoritarian regimes, you could operationally define your independent
variable using:
a. data on level of democracy.
b. data on level of authoritarianism.
c. survey data on levels of generalized trust in countries.
d. survey data on pride in one’s country.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
14. Which of the following is a strength of the civic culture approach?
a. It can be used to study political culture in many countries.
b. It uses novels and movies as well as surveys to provide an insider’s view.
c. It can be used to determine the strength of a country’s identity politics.
d. It only uses two variables to compare countries, type of political system and infant
mortality.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Civic Culture Approach
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
15. If you wanted to test the hypothesis that decreases in poverty lead to higher levels of
democracy in South American countries, you would use:
a. the social trust approach, relying upon history, novels, and religious documents.
b. the social capital approach, relying upon surveys of individuals’ knowledge of
politics.
c. the civic culture approach, using surveys of individuals’ knowledge of politics and
their level of participation in politics.
d. the self-expression approach, using surveys of individuals’ support for freedom of
speech, tolerance, willingness to challenge authority, and trust in others.
approaches to political culture.
Topic: The Self-Expression Approach
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
95
16. The social capital approach assumes that which of the following is useful in helping
societies overcome social dilemmas?
a. the ability of members of a group to coordinate their actions to achieve common goals
b. good access to high-quality health care for all citizens
c. the ability to rely on international institutions to support local causes
d. a norm of “I’ll do this for you now, if you do that for me now.”
democracies do a better job than others of promoting citizens’ capabilities.
Topic: Social Capital
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
17. The social capital approach explains the great differences in tax payments between Greek
and Swedish citizens as being a result of:
a. different religious traditions.
b. different kinds of social cleavages.
c. Greece’s long experience with authoritarian rule.
d. Greek citizens’ lack of trust in officials and fellow citizens.
democracies do a better job than others of promoting citizens’ capabilities.
Topic: Social Capital
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Understand the Concepts
18. In 2010, the son of a deputy police chief in China killed two men when he hit them with
his car. He was sent to prison. This demonstrates:
a. the power of social trust to reform the government to change its laws that protect
elected officials while they hold office.
b. the power of the international community to pressure countries that have lower self-
expression values to be more responsive to its citizens.
c. the power of social networks to pressure a government that in the past would not have
prosecuted the son.
d. the power of citizens to overthrow political elites.
democracies do a better job than others of promoting citizens’ capabilities.
Topic: Social Networks
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
96
