American Political Culture

You may wonder how American democracy differs from other democracies in the world. You read in your text that America devotes a smaller percentage of its resources to government services - that the American government’s impact on citizens, in terms of services provided, is less than in other democracies. Why? If America is indeed democratic, then why does our government differ from others?

One answer to these questions may be our political culture. Loosely defined, a political culture is a common way of thinking about affairs of state. If you pay attention to elections in this country, you may find it hard to believe that Americans have any commonalities in their ways of thinking, but political scientists have found that there is a unique American view of government. Let’s examine those views of government as we look at America’s political culture.