Sample Essay On Political Culture

For illustrating the existing political cultures according to Elazar let us take the example of, say, Maine and Illinois. The two states are not very much far from one another, but they still share an enough amount of differences between them. In this paper I will prove that these theoretical differences have real displays in the modern world.
Maine represents the group of states adhering to the moral political culture. The main trait of this type of political culture is the assumption that the common good is more important than the individual good. And though the last is not denied in any way, still common interests rule. In Maine both federal and state authorities are welcome and allowed to take rather deeply into the lives of usual people. This means that government, both of the federal and local scale tend to be considered as a positive force. This explains why the states of New England, by the way, never had any aspiration towards secession though it has been inherent multiple times to many other states that represent other political cultures.
Politics is regarded as an activity that helps people come with an idea of the “good society,” what this notion includes and how it works. The moral side of the matter is also very important. .Cheating in politics would never be accepted by citizens of Mine because that would deny the notion instilled in them that politics always serves for the public good.
In fact, citizens of Maine, just like citizens of any other state that belongs to this category of political culture are ready to sacrifice some individual benefits and loyalties they have in order to serve the community and in order to make the public good even better.
Illinois is quite another story. It is embedded in the area covered by the individual political culture. Attitude towards government here differs very much from that in Maine, primarily what touches upon the extent to which government authorities should and can interfere in the lives of people. In fact, representatives of this political culture think that the government should come down to practical things and not interfere with any ideology or something. The proof of this is that according to individual political culture no such thing as “good society” must be the business of government. Also, it can be very strictly seen that this type of culture does not accept any overlap between government control and private sector which, in my opinion, resembles the libertarian approach in the society. Private goals and matters are seen in these states as more important ones.
Therefore, the main differences of the two cultures I selected come down to the following. First, community versus individualism. Whereas in moral political culture community values are more important than individual, to such extent that people are ready to sacrifice their personal interests for the benefit of the society, in Illinois the case is rather vice versa. The individual dominates over the common. The second significant difference is the role of state authorities, of the government. Whereas in moral political culture it plays a very significant role, it penetrate deep into every aspect of life and regulates really host of details in the society, in Illinois governmental interference is treated like something not very welcomed and desirable. However, there are also similarities. For instance, the overlapping field is the existence of concept of the “public good” in both political cultures. It must be developed to a different extent in the eyes of these groups but it is an inherent element of both.
In real world this works something like this. For the Maine population it is far more important to have some issues of the public good settled. For instance, people would like the government to better organize schooling process, to undertake reforms to improve schools and make them meet the diverse needs of the populations children, In Illinois citizens would rather prefer to use their autonomy form the government to choose the school they like most, on the competitive basis, because government does not regulate that much about the education.
Therefore, all of the above being said, I must admit that differences between political cultures really do display themselves in the modern American societies and influence the way people think, behave and make decisions.