The Civic Culture at 50: Change, Continuity and Challenges in the Federal Republic of Germany

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ross Campbell is Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of the West of Scotland in the United Kingdom. Having obtained a PhD from the University of Strathclyde, he was post-doctoral fellow at the WZB (Social Science Center, Berlin), where he researched the nature, structure and trajectory of mass attitudes towards democracy. More recently, his research interests have broadened to include the changing repertoire of citizens’ political participation and the structure of political inequality. His recent publications have appeared in European Journal of Political Research, West European Politics, International Political Science Review and German Politics.

David P. Conradt has been a Professor of Political Science at East Carolina University since 1993. From 1968 to 1993 he was at the University of Florida (Gainesville). He has also held joint appointments at universities in Konstanz, Mannheim, Cologne and Dresden. Among his recent publications are Politics in Europe (co-author, 2015); The German Polity (10th edition, 2013, co-author), A Precarious Victory: Schröder and the German Elections of 2002 (editor, 2005), and Power Shift in Germany: The1998 Election and the End of the Kohl Era (editor, 2000). He has also published a variety of articles and monographs on German political culture, parties and elections including ‘The Shrinking Elephants: The 2009 Election and the Changing Party System' (German Politics and Society, 2010).

ORCID

David P. Conradt http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6175-690X

Notes

1. Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1963).

2. Included in this are the following: Harry Eckstein, Division and Cohesion in Democracy: A Study of Norway (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966); David Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1965); Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man (London: Heinemann, 1969); Ronald Inglehart, The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles among Western Publics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1977); Pippa Norris (ed.), Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000); Susan Pharr and Robert D. Putnam (eds), Disaffected Democracies: What's Troubling Trilateral Countries? (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000); Russell J. Dalton, Democratic Challenges Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

3. Robert E. Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann, ‘Political Science: The Discipline', in Robert Goodin and Hans-Dieter Klingemann, A New Handbook of Political Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), p.15.

4. See, for example, Robert W. Jackman and Ross A. Miller, ‘A Renaissance of Political Culture', American Journal of Political Science 40/3 (1996), pp.632–59.

5. Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, p.366.

6. Ibid., p.15.

7. Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life.

8. David P. Conradt, ‘Changing German Political Culture’, in Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba (eds), The Civic Culture Revisited (London: Sage, 1989), pp.229–30.

9. Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, p.16.

10. Robert A. Dahl, Democracy and Its Critics (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), p.181.

11. Michael X. Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996).

12. Harold D. Clarke and Alan C. Acock, ‘National Elections and Political Attitudes: The Case of Political Efficacy', British Journal of Political Science 19/4 (1989), p.551.

13. Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, p.15.

14. Ibid. p.16.

15. Jerzy J. Wiatr, ‘The Civic Culture from a Marxist-Sociological Perspective’, in Almond and Verba (eds), The Civic Culture Revisited, pp.118–19.

16. Carole Pateman, ‘The Civic Culture: A Philosophic Critique’, in Almond and Verba (eds), The Civic Culture Revisited, pp.57–102.

17. Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune, The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1970).

18. See, for example, Mattei Dogan and Dominique Pelassy, How to Compare Nations (Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers, 1984); Giacomo Sani, ‘The Political Culture of Italy: Continuity and Change', in Almond and Verba (eds), The Civic Culture Revisited, pp.273–324; Ann L. Craig and Wayne A. Cornelius, ‘Political Culture in Mexico: Continuities and Revisionist Interpretations’, in Almond and Verba (eds), The Civic Culture Revisited, pp.325–93.

19. Carole Pateman, Participation and Democratic Theory (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970).

20. Max Kaase, ‘Sinn oder Unsinn des Konzepts “Politische Kultur” für die vergleichende Politikforschung’, in Max Kaase and H.-D. Klingemann (eds), Wahlen und politisches System (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1983), pp.144–71.

21. David Easton, ‘A Re-Assessment of the Concept of Political Support’, British Journal of Political Science 5/4 (1975), p.437.

22. Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life.

23. Brian Barry, Sociologists, Economists and Democracy (London: University of Chicago Press, 1978), p.49.

24. Edward N. Muller and Mitchell A. Seligson, ‘Civic Culture and Democracy: The Question of Causal Relationships’, American Political Science Review 88/3 (1994), pp.635–52.

25. Robert Jackman and Ross A. Miller, ‘The Poverty of Political Culture’, American Journal of Political Science 40/3 (1996), pp.697–716.

26. Wiatr, ‘The Civic Culture from a Marxist-Sociological Perspective’, pp.118–19.

27. Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, p.366.

28. Ibid., p.337.

29. Gabriel Almond, A Discipline Divided: Schools and Sects in Political Science (London: Sage, 1990), p.144.

30. Myron Weiner, ‘India: Two Political Cultures', in Lucian W. Pye and Sidney Verba (eds), Political Culture and Political Development (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965), pp.199–244.

31. John Curtice, ‘Comparative Opinion Surveys’, in Russell J. Dalton and Hans-Dieter Klingemann (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp.896–909.

32. Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Henry E. Brady and David Collier, ‘Political Science Methodology', in Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier, Henry E. Brady and David Collier (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Methodology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp.3–31.

33. Ronald Inglehart, ‘Post-Materialism in an Environment of Insecurity', American Political Science Review 75/4 (1981), pp.880–900.

34. Elinor Scarbrough and Jan W. Van Deth, ‘The Concept of Values', in Jan W. Van Deth and Elinor Scarbrough (eds), The Impact of Values (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp.21–47.

35. Ronald Inglehart, ‘The Renaissance of Political Culture’, American Political Science Review 82/4 (1988), pp.1203–30.

36. Ronald Inglehart, The Silent Revolution.

37. Ronald Inglehart, Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997).

38. Ronald Inglehart, Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), p.185.

39. Robert Rohrschneider, ‘The Roots of Public Opinion toward New Social Movements: An Empirical Test of Competing Explanations', American Journal of Political Science 34/1 (1990), pp.1–30.

40. Ronald Inglehart, ‘Political Action: The Impact of Values, Cognitive Level, and Social Background', in Samuel Barnes and Max Kaase (eds), Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies (London: Sage, 1979), pp.57–96.

41. Ruth Lane, ‘Political Culture: Residual Category or General Theory?’, Comparative Political Studies 25/3 (1992), pp.362–87.

42. Robert D. Putnam, Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993), p.11.

43. For a critical review, however, see Robert W. Jackman and Ross A. Miller, ‘A Renaissance of Political Culture', American Journal of Political Science 40/3 (1996) pp.632–59.

44. Putnam, Making Democracy Work, p.144.

45. David D. Laitin, ‘The Civic Culture at 30’, American Political Science Review 89/1 (1995), p.171.

46. David Halpern, Social Capital (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2010).

47. Samuel Barnes and Max Kaase (eds), Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies (London: Sage, 1979).

48. The Beliefs in Government project encompasses five excellent volumes. These are: volume 1: Hans-Dieter Klingemann and Dieter Fuchs (eds), Citizens and the State (Oxford: Oxford University Press); volume 2: Oskar Niedermayer and Richard Sinnott (eds), Public Opinion and Internationalised Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); volume 3: Ole Borre and Elinor Scarbrough (eds), The Scope of Government (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); volume 4: Jan W. Van Deth and Elinor Scarbrough (eds), The Impact of Values (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); and volume 5: Max Kaase and Kenneth Newton, Beliefs in Government (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

49. This project generated a number of high-profile publications, the finest example of which is Russell J. Dalton, ‘Citizenship Norms and the Expansion of Political Participation’, Political Studies 56/1 (2008), pp.76–98.

50. There are multiple data sources, including: American National Election Studies, the World Values Surveys and the European Social Surveys. For an overview of the developments in this industry see John Curtice, ‘Comparative Opinion Surveys’, in Dalton and Klingemann, The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior, pp.896–909.

51. Pippa Norris (ed.), Critical Citizens: Global Support for Democratic Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999); Susan Pharr and Robert D. Putnam (eds), Disaffected Democracies: What's Troubling Trilateral Countries? (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000); Russell J. Dalton, Democratic Challenges Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

52. Ken Newton, ‘Political Support: Social Capital, Civil Society and Political and Economic Performance', Political Studies 54/4 (2006), p.868.

53. Edward N. Muller, Thomas O. Jukam and Mitchell A. Seligson, ‘Diffuse Support and Antisystem Political Behavior: A Comparative Analysis’, American Journal of Political Science 26/2 (1982), pp.240–1.

54. Marc J. Hetherington, Why Trust Matters: Declining Political Trust and the Demise of American Liberalism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005).

55. Russell J. Dalton, Wilhelm Bürklin and Andrew Drummond, ‘Public Opinion and Direct Democracy', Journal of Democracy 12/4 (2001), pp.141–53.

56. Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy: Second Edition (London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947), p.269.

57. The most developed argument on this point is contained in a seminal book by John Keane, The Life and Death of Democracy (London: Simon & Schuster, 2009).

58. See, for example, Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin, Deliberation Day (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004); Archon Fung and Erik O. Wright, Deepening Democracy: Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance (London: Verso, 2003).

59. Graham Smith and Corinne Wales, ‘The Theory and Practice of Citizens’ Juries’, Policy and Politics 27/3 (1999), pp.295–308.

60. Jürg Steiner, André Bächtiger, Markus Spörndli and Marco Steenbergen, De­liberative Politics in Action: Analysing Parliamentary Discourse (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).

61. André Bächtiger, Marco R. Steenbergen and Simon Niemeyer, ‘Deliberative Democracy: An Introduction’, Swiss Political Science Review 13/4 (2007), p.486.

62. See Philip E. Converse, ‘The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics', in David E. Apter (ed.), Ideology and Discontent (New York: The Free Press, 1964), pp.206–61.

63. Barry, Sociologists, Economists and Democracy, p.52; emphasis original.

64. George E. Hudson, ‘Civil Society in Russia: Models and Prospects for Development’, The Russian Review 62/2 (2003), pp.212–22.

65. Gabriel Badescu and Eric M. Uslaner, Social Capital and the Transition to Democracy (London: Routledge, 2003).

66. Archie Brown, ‘From Democratization to Guided Democracy’, Journal of Democracy 12/4 (2001), p.37.

67. Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, Why Nations Fail (London: Profile Books, 2013).

68. Dario Castiglione, Jan W. van Deth and Guglielmo Wolleb, The Handbook of Social Capital (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).

69. Kay Lehman Scholzman, Sidney Verba and Henry E. Brady, The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Participation and the Broken Promise of American Democracy (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012).

70. Richard Rose, ‘England: The Traditionally Modern Political Culture’, in Pye and Verba (eds), Political Culture and Political Development, pp.83–129.

71. Sidney Verba, ‘The Remaking of German Political Culture', in Pye and Verba (eds), Political Culture and Political Development, pp.130–71.

72. Oscar W. Gabriel, Politische Kultur, Postmaterialismus und Materialismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Beitrage zur sozialwissenschaftlichen Forschung (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1986).

73. Nico Voightländer and Hans-Joachim Voth, ‘Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany', Quarterly Journal of Economics 127/3 (2011), pp.1339–92.

74. Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, p.312.

75. David P. Conradt, ‘West Germany: A Remade Political Culture? Some Evidence from Survey Archives’, Comparative Political Studies 7/2 (1974), pp.222–38.

76. Anna J. Merritt and Richard L. Merritt, Public Opinion in Occupied Germany: The OMGUS Surveys (Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1970), p.40.

77. Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, pp.312–13.

78. Anna J. Merritt and Richard L. Merritt, Public Opinion in Semisovereign Germany: The HICOG Surveys 1949–1955 (Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1980), p.14.

79. Conradt, ‘Changing German Political Culture’, p.221.

80. David P. Conradt, ‘Political Culture, Legitimacy and Participation’, West European Politics 4/2 (1981), pp.18–34; Kendall Baker, Russell Dalton and Kai Hildebrandt, Germany Transformed: Political Culture and the New Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981).

81. Petra Bauer, ‘Politische Orientierungen im Übergang. Eine Analyse politischer Einstellungen der Bürger in West- und Ostdeutschland 1990/1991', Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 43 (1991), pp.433–53.

82. Robert Rohrschneider, ‘Cultural Transmission versus Perceptions of the Economy: The Sources of Political Elites’ Economic Values in United Germany', Comparative Political Studies 29/1 (1996), pp.78–104; David P. Conradt, ‘Political Culture in Unified Germany: The First Ten Years', German Politics and Society 20/2 (2002), pp.43–74.

83. Oscar Gabriel, ‘Demokratiezufriedenheit und demokratische Einstellungen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland', Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte B22/87 (1987), pp.32–45.

84. Dieter Fuchs, ‘Welche Demokratie wollen die Deutschen? Einstellungen zur Demokratie im vereinigten Deutschland’, in Oscar W. Gabriel (ed.), Politische Orientierungen und Verhaltensweisen im vereinigten Deutschland (Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 1997), pp.81–113.

85. Detlaf Pollack, ‘Trust in Institutions and the Urge to Be Different: On Attitudinal Change in East Germany', German Politics 8/3 (1999), pp.81–103.

86. Max Kaase, ‘Consensus, Conflict and Democracy in Germany', German Politics 6/2 (1997), pp.1–28.

87. Frederick Weil, ‘The Development of Democratic Attitudes in Eastern and Western Germany in Comparative Perspective’, in F. Weil (ed.), Research on Democracy and Society: Democratization in Eastern and Western Europe (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1993), pp.195–225.

88. Ross Campbell, ‘The Sources of Institutional Trust in East and West Germany: Civic Culture or Economic Performance', German Politics 13/3 (2004), pp.401–18.

89. Ross Campbell, ‘Values, Trust and Democracy in Germany: Still in Search of “Inner Unity”', European Journal of Political Research 51/3 (2012), pp.646–70.

90. Ross Campbell, ‘Winners, Losers, and the Grand Coalition: Political Satisfaction in the Federal Republic of Germany', International Political Science Review 36/2 (2015), pp.168–84.

91. Kai Arzheimer and Jürgen W. Falter, ‘Ist der Osten wirklich rot? Das Wahlverhalten bei der Bundestagswahl 2002 in Ost-West-Perspektive', Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 52/B49–50 (2002), pp.27–35.

92. Michael Minkenberg, ‘The Wall after the Wall: On the Continuing Division of Germany and the Remaking of Political Culture', Comparative Politics 26/1 (1993), pp.53–68.

93. Richard I. Hofferbert and Hans-Dieter Klingemann, ‘Democracy and Its Discontents in Post-Wall Germany', International Political Science Review 22/4 (2001), pp.363–78.

94. Hans-Joachim Veen, ‘“Inner Unity” – Back to the Community Myth? A Plea for a Basic Consensus’, German Politics 6/3 (1997), pp.1–15; Petra Bauer-Kaase and Max Kaase, ‘Five Years of Unification: The Germans on the Path to Inner Unity?’, German Politics 5/1 (1996), pp.1–25.

95. Kai Arzheimer, ‘Twenty Years after: Sozial- und wirtschaftspolitische Einstellungen von Ost- und Westdeutschen im Vergleich', Zivile Bürgergesellschaft und Demokratie: Aktuelle Ergebnisse der empirischen Politikforschung. Festschrift für Oscar Gabriel (Wiesbaden: VS, 2012), pp.299–336.

96. Ross Campbell, ‘Socialist Values and Political Participation: A Barrier to “Inner Unity”?’, West European Politics 34/2 (2011), pp.362–83.

97. Ross Campbell, ‘Political Support and Social Capital: A Re-Assessment of the Putnam Thesis in East and West Germany', German Politics 20/4 (2011), pp.568–90; Ross Campbell, ‘Social Capital and Democratic Attitudes: Re-Examining the Social Foundations of Democracy in Germany', Debatte: Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe 18/3 (2010), pp.259–80.

98. Edeltraud Roller, ‘Shrinking the Welfare State: Citizens’ Attitudes towards Cuts in Social Spending in Germany in the 1990s', German Politics 8/4 (1999), pp.21–39.

99. Edeltraud Roller, ‘Political Agendas and Beliefs about the Scope of Government', in Borre and Scarbrough (eds), The Scope of Government, pp.53–86. See also Edeltraud Roller, ‘The Welfare State: The Equality Dimension', in Borre and Scarbrough (eds), The Scope of Government, pp.165–97.

100. Dieter Fuchs, Edeltraud Roller and Bernhard Weßels, ‘Die Akzeptanz der Demokratie des vereinigten Deutschland Oder: Wann ist ein Unterschied ein Unterschied?’, Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte B51/97 (1997), s.3–12.

101. Robert Rohrschneider and Stephen Whitefield, The Strain of Representation: How Parties Represent Diverse Voters in Western and Eastern Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).

102. Dan Hough, The Fall and Rise of the PDS in Eastern Germany (Birmingham: Birmingham University Press, 2001); Dan Hough, Michael Koβ and Jonathan Olsen, The Left Party in Contemporary German Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

103. See, however, Katja Neller and Isabel S. Thaidigsmann, ‘Das Vertretenheitsgefühl der Ostdeutschen durch die PDS: DDR-Nostalgie und andere Erklärungsfaktoren im Vergleich', Politische Vierteljahresschrift 43/3 (2002), pp.420–44; Peter Doerschler and Lee Ann Banaszak, ‘Voter Support for the German PDS over Time: Dissatisfaction, Ideology, Losers and East Identity', Electoral Studies 26/4 (2007), pp.359–70.

104. Max Kaase and Alan Marsh, ‘Political Action: A Theoretical Perspective’, in S. Barnes and M. Kaase (eds), Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies (London: Sage, 1979), pp.27–56.

105. Lester Milbrath, Political Participation: How and Why Do People Get Involved in Politics? (Chicago, IL: Rand and McNally, 1965).

106. Markus Steinbrecher, Politische Partizipation in Deutschland (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2009).

107. Dieter Rucht, ‘The Spread of Protest Politics', in Dalton and Klingemann, The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior, pp.708–23.

108. Donatella Della Porta and Sidney Tarrow, Transnational Protest and Global Activism (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005).

109. Sidney Verba, ‘On Revisiting the Civic Culture: A Personal Postscript’, in Almond and Verba (eds), The Civic Culture Revisited, p.396.