SA 3109 Approaches in Political Analysis

L 6: Cultural style Theory 2 Click to edit Master subtitle

12 Oct 2011 Dr. M. Francesch

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Landmark Studies on the attitudes of people to politics

Almond, G. & S. Verba (1968) The Civic Culture: political attitudes and democracy in five nations. London: Sage (survey of the political culture of democracy in US, UK, Germany, Italy and Mexico) Lau, S. K. & H.C. Kuan (1995) The Ethos of the Hong Kong Chinese. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. Lam, W. M. (2004) Understanding the Political Culture of Hong Kong: the paradox of activism and depoliticization. London: ME Sharpe.

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Culture as a means of description or explanation

Description: first specify which collectivity you have an interest in (what question?) proceed to describe the patterns of behaviour within in it (how question?) Explanation: must identify what it is about these collectivities which leads to a distinctive pattern of behaviour (why question?)

For example: Ask whether their collective experience as a nation is unique or whether the national difference stems from the varying particular groups, each with its own unique experiences, that are part of the nation Example: Political behavior of Catholics in choosing a political party across countries: who votes Republican in the US? Who votes Greens in Germany?

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Culture as a means of description or explanation

Explanations based on national cultures can be persuasive only when ruling out structural and institutional explanations about why a particular nation behaves this or this other way:

Structural explanation: [structure] interconnecting parts of any complex thing. Rules and roles specifying who is to do what and how. E.g: CityU culture is driven by the rules and roles that determine how faculty and students behave, not by the choices which individuals make Institutional explanation: rules and organizational structures become institutions when they come to symbolize the communitys aspirations. All institutions are organizations, but not all organizations are institutions. E.g: City U culture is driven not only by the formal organizational roles and rules but also by the aspirations of its faculty and students

PC explanatory power is primarily restricted to setting the agenda over which political mindsets are out there
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Culture as context-specific
If PC is the particular incidence of patterns of political orientation in the population of a political system Culture is contextually and inter-subjectively defined, and the strategies used to pursue is understood to be context-dependent A group exhibits a given range and distribution of (largely unconscious) assumptions about its political life

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Culture as framing the political context

What PC does? Linking individual & collective identities Defining the boundaries between groups and organising actions within & between them Providing a framework for interpreting the actions and motives of others Providing resources for political organisation and motivation

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Some examples of cultural values & economic development producing sustainable Importance of values in

economic development Asian cultural values: key driving forces of rapid economic growth Old assumption: Asian cultures lacked the capacity to generate economic growth How to explain the rise and fall of East/Southeast Asia? The same values in different circumstances can and will produce different effects

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Some examples of cultural factors &Spirit of capitalism: Marx Weber noted the economic behavior

cultural origins of capitalism Calvinists: predestination, psychic of anxiety/insecurity. More hardworking. Christians: afterworld reward. Less hardworking? Confucianism:
Well adjusted, unlimited patience, controlled politeness, a capacity for uninterrupted hard work but not the qualities that could spontaneously produce capitalism; but qualities that could make up for skill in emulating capitalistic practices

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Some examples of cultural factor in economic behavior (cont..)

Confucianism: dismiss hard work and all forms of physical work; idealize leisure and effortlessness Chinese Confucianism emphasize good luck; much of life is determined by external forces youre surrounded by Western capitalism: Seeking to improve products, strengthen their organizational structures, work hard, name recognition Chinese capitalism: finding who needs what Try to diversify, ready to change production responding to market needs Importance of guanxi ( )
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Critique of cultural approach

What are the boundaries of Western culture? Within culture variation can be considerable:

Within individuals; among individuals; among groups; between an individual and the society (conflicts between individuals values and prevailing norms)

Everything is interpretation Action and the material world are swept into the all-embracing basket.

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An illustration of a cultural approach study: Political culture in Hong Kong

Shiu Hing Lo, "Citizen Participation, Political Culture and Governability in Hong Kong: A Critique of the Psychocultural Approach" Lucian W. Pye, Asian Power & Politics: The Cultural Dimensions of Authority

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The Cultural Approach to HK Politics: Lau Siu-kai & Kuan Hsin-chi

Scholars (in the 80s & 90s) argued that:

HK people's political culture was unique They had a partial or paternalistic view of democracy They were attentive spectators in politics Political parties were relatively weak and lacked popular support Political leadership was not nurtured under British rule Governor Patten's reforms brought about the problem of ungovernability Coalition between HK's elite & Beijing could bring stability to HK

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The Variables in Lau's & Kuan's Explanation (Cf. Lo)

Independent

variable: political culture Intervening variables: citizen participation; strength of political parties; degree of political leadership Other intervening variables: e.g. governability Dependent variable: political stability

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Was HK's Culture Unique?

Lo, Lau & Kuan often assumed that HK's political cultural was unique and people preferred paternal to democratic government (or harmony to conflict) Hong Kong people avoided politics instead of participated in politics But, "Lau and Kuan intentionally or unintentionally utilize their findings to reinforce their assumption[s] of the political behaviour of Hong Kong Chinese."

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Cultural Comparison
There

was little comparison in Lau's and Kuan's works Comparisons with Macau, Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore are required in order to establish the claim that HK's political culture is unique Comparisons are also required to see if structural or other factors are not relevant in the cultural explanation

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A Matter of Definition?
"Lau

and Kuan do not deal with different findings amongst other Hong Kong researchers [DeGolyer & Scott], who find that Hong Kong Chinese are very participatory in both cognitive and behavioural terms." (Lo; see also Lam Waiman, Understanding the Political Culture of Hong Kong) While DeGolyer & Scott define participation as awareness of political affairs, discussion of politics, and action taken to influence policies, Lau & Kuan only narrowly define the latter as participation (Lo)
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Cultural or Structural?

Lau & Kuan are not consistent in their use of political culture as an independent variable, sometimes they shift to structure as explanation "For example, they argued that neither Britain nor China wanted to see unconstrained democratization in Hong Kong during the transition period, that the British did not have a policy of cultivating local leadership in the colony, and that Hong Kong people's mistrust of politicians and political parties [all] constrained the development of an active participatory culture of Hong Kong people." (Lo)

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Interpreting Asian Concepts of Power

"The greater Asian acknowledgement of the need for, and indeed the desirability of, authority contrasts sharply with the Western enthusiasm for limiting authority" Why?
First, the confidence in progress (the Enlightenment) in the West helps to foster the belief that primitive power (state of nature) was something from the distant past. But in Asia, it is an ever-lurking danger in the future (the fear of chaos) Second, power is regarded as directly related to policy and instrumental to the achievement of concrete political goals in the West; but in Asia, it is more a ritual and spiritual/supernatural thing to ensure harmony & favourable conditions for the whole community

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Power in an Ethical-Moral Social Order

In the Confucian tradition, it was inadmissible to speak of power except in moralistic terms. Coupled with the ethical idea of familism, the Chinese committed themselves to seeing relations always in hierarchical terms and attributing almost unlimited potential to those at the top The ruler should rule by example since people could be educated. But if people have it in their nature not to respond to good examples, they are evil and deserving harsh punishment

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Harmony & Anti-Politics

The very essence of rule by moral example was anti-politics, since it precluded the kinds of activities associated with using power or rule competitively in support of different values Two enduring consequences of ritual politics:

The locus of power was external to human (son of heaven/god-like leader) The cause & effect in political affairs could be extremely complex (what is more important is whether the ruler is virtuous)
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The Politics of Status

Power became nothing more than social status, and to exercise power was simply to perform high-status roles. In some respects power became even less utilitarian since it could only be used properly in adhering to the norms of established roles. To use power for practical purposes could compromise the legitimacy of one's status and thereby turn the whole society against the taboo violator The politics of status refined the people's sensitivity to the essence of personal relations and also produced elaborate calculations of mutual obligations: guanxi

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The Challenge of Modernisation

Colonial rule and the politics of technological power, law & order "The Chinese have for over one hundred years been torn between believing that power was derived from the intensity of people's commitments to established values first Confucianism, then the San-Min-Chu-I, and finally Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Though [now, harmonious society?]--and believing that power would come from the pragmatic use of science and technology." (Pye) The ti-yung (essence-means) dichotomy?

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