Bulletin n. 2/2015 | ||
September 2015 | ||
Verba Sidney |
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The 50th Anniversary of The Civic Culture | ||
in German Politics , Volume 24, Issue 3, Special Issue: The Civic Culture at 50 , 2015 , 234-248 | ||
This article traces the origins of the concept of political culture within the study of comparative politics. After revisiting the circumstances under which it developed, the article highlights some of the key factors that set it apart from other studies in its era – its theoretical exploration of stable democracy, its systematically comparative focus and its use of sample surveys of public opinion. The article shows how these factors were refined and improved in subsequent work on political equality. Overall, it concludes that the basic formulation of The Civic Culture – of congruence between mass attitudes and the type of political system – will be retained and will continue to make a mark upon the future trajectory of comparative research on public opinion. | ||