The concept of "political culture" appeared in the 18th century. This term was used in his writings by Johann Herder (German philosopher-educator). However, the theory itself, providing for the study of the political world through culture, was formed much later. It was formed only by the 50-60s.
Political culture is considered to be a complex of images and forms of people's behavior typical of a certain state in the public sphere. These forms and images embody the values of the population. They reflect people's ideas about the goals and meaning of political development. Along with this, established traditions and norms of relations between society, man and the state are fixed.
Political culture is the value-normative system that society adheres to. This structure exists in the form of the main ideals and values generally accepted and widespread among the majority of the population.
Very often it is in the political sphere that entire social groups or individual citizens try to realize their interests. However, it should be noted that this process is not direct. It is expressed in relation to leaders, elites, power and other things.
As a rule, the expression of this relationship is not something innovative or extraordinary. As practice shows, it is the political culture that dominates society that prescribes typical rules and patterns of political behavior.
Representations of power are mainly inculcated in a person with education. Based on these ideas, the individual interacts with the state. Thus, the most stable and unchanging traits in character are visible, the style of human behavior is manifested, the political culture of the individual is determined.
However, decisions are often made "not by the head, but by the heart." People’s intentions do not always coincide with their actions. The emerging contradictions that enter during the course of political life give internal contradictions to political culture. At the same time, this ambiguity allows us to simultaneously support both active and passive forms of participation in the life of the power of each individual.
Defining political culture as a specific sphere of phenomena, it should be noted that it can influence the course of the process, the dynamics of changes in the government sector, as well as the state of the actors involved. Among the most stable functions, reflecting different directions of action on power, it should be noted:
- An identification that reveals a person’s constant desire to understand his group affiliation and determine acceptable methods of participation in upholding and expressing the interests of the entire relevant community.
- Socialization - obtaining certain properties and skills for the realization of their own civil rights, political interests and tasks.
- Integration (disintegration), providing different groups the opportunity to coexist within the established system.
- Communication facilitating the interaction of all institutions and subjects of power through the use of generally accepted stereotypes, symbols, terms and other information tools.
- The orientation that characterizes the human desire for the semantic expression of the phenomena of power, understanding of their personal capabilities in the implementation of freedoms and rights in a particular system.
- Prescription (programming), reflecting the priority of specific norms, orientations and ideas, defining and explaining a separate orientation and boundaries of the formation of human behavior.
There are three main (ideal) types of political culture. However, in the ideal form, they do not occur in the real world. Theoretically, there is a subservient and patriarchal culture, as well as a culture of participation. For young states that are independent, the second type is characteristic. Moreover, the patriarchal political culture is oriented towards national values and can manifest itself in the form of local patriotism, mafia, corruption.