Free The Impact Of Culture On Politics In Virginia Essay Example

Virginia is a state with an extremely rich history. Records from archeology show that even before the European contact Virginia had people who lived in it more than seventeen thousand years ago. During that time, the history and culture of these natives were passed to their children through drawings and storytelling and not writing as it is done nowadays. Most of the tribe living in this area since those days is the incorporated groups of Indians who among them are the Pamunkey, the Mattaponi, and nine other tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia’s supreme power is bestowed on the people, thus the name the Commonwealth of Virginia. The term has been used to show that the state of Virginia bases its governance in the sovereignty of the people. Politics, on the other hand, are affected by the cultural believe or shift in a given place. For instance, the change in cultural values will always have a major influence in the politics of a specific place. This paper aims to look at the effect of culture on politics; the alternative approaches the study of culture and finally, the crucial cultural orientation of Virginia that affects their politics.

Does a culture really matter when it comes to politics?

Both classical and modern Democracy theories assert that in order to attain democracy, citizens of a state or country should have an idiosyncratic set of cultural values and alignments. These set of values give directions, thus playing a vital role in the politics of the day. For instant, Virginia being a commonwealth, state means that citizens of that state have the authority to choose their laws and rulers of the land. For that reason, their cultural values are vital when it comes to democratic politics. They do so by giving direction to the interaction between voters and political parties and their candidates (Lane and Ersson 56). According to Lane and Ersson, any change whatsoever in the cultural values of a community will always influence and reflect in their politics (56). However, not all vales affect politics, but they solve many of the classical issues in the rational choice analysis. Preferences in political ideologies also have impacts on the politics of the land. For instance, the U.S has several political parties however, only two are dominating (Democrats and Republicans). Culture in a community answers the value question thus, when cultural values of a people change, then automatically, there politicians will also change tact. As a result, decisions and outcomes are changed by this fact, thus influencing politics in the area. Additionally, the impacts of cultural values become either diffuse impacts or specific impacts, which as a result affect the micro and macro consequences (lane and Errson 59).
Whenever new cultural values come and change the political atmosphere of a place, it is perceived that a new political change is happening. For that reason, whenever an individual gets more backing from the society, then automatically the private sector is preferred more compared to the public. The same thing happens when the level of trust increases changes in a society. The trust is said to have a profound impact on social interaction, which in return facilitates economic growth. On the other hand, a trusting culture in a community may also have significant impacts in reducing political conflicts because people become more willing to compromise on certain issues. As a result, political stability is created by the trust in systems and the people elected to power (Brisbin 45). Diffuse cultural impacts in a society are either profound or trial, for that reason, one requires to conduct a research to understand diffusion effects of a society. It is arguable that not automatically does trust impact economic growth because there is other factors which must be held constant for it to affect the economy. Such issues are in line with the unity of individuals and systems that they work with, and at the same time, the society needs to be free from corrupt dealings (Brisbin 59).
The impacts of cultural values in politics are very visible in any community because a rise of a new preference of both politicians, as well as voters, affects the general outcome. Whenever the preferences are received and accepted, they can influence positive political decision-making process and thus the outcome of political endeavors. Consequently, the new political preference has a large influence on the mass, which creates inevitable attention from policy makers thus, either forcing them to create new ones or re-forming the old one (Brisbin 89).
In order for one to distinguish the difference between the two cultural influences (diffuse and specific), the individual needs to understand the two are in relation to individual-level, as well as societal-level results. The simplest way to explain the effects of when new cultural values and favorable and create satisfaction in the larger majority’s life. Additionally, one may look at how strategically place themselves along political lines or parties (Stewart, Brisbin, Dilger, Hammock, and Mooney, 154)
The weberian approach is seen as the collective meanings that groups symbolically express, thus create and share. The approach worries itself with the connotation of culture and social action of a given society by uncovering the restrictions of people’s behavior from the myth and ritual viewpoint. Proponents of this approach champion the idea that causal associations are authenticated by observation of the patterns of behavior that are repeated. Cultural theory on the other hand concerns itself with topological differences between subgroups in any given community (lane and Errson 86). These topological differences are; the social prescription of a person’s behavior in a group and extent in which the individual is locked into an affiliation with a specific group. Champions of the cultural theory believe that the relationship between these subcultures will always provide the theoretical foundation for understanding any political system (lane and Errson 92).
The third approach, which is the social culture, concerns itself with both the national character as well as the anthropological studies. These studies are centered on the culture as well as the personality of an individual or group. Social culture approach tries to create a bridge between the psychological and anthropological approaches basing its arguments on learning the behavior of a community (Grodach and Silver 78). On the other hand, social learning approach first started as a behavioral revolution approach. The Proponents of this approach argue that socialization is one of the vital elements of psychological alignment of every political actor (Grodach and Silver 82).
All these approaches can slightly explain the impacts of culture on politics in the commonwealth of Virginia. The introduction of the law that allowed women to vote and the new age of democracy meant increment in the number of people who participated in political issues. It is argued that different societies have different reaction strategies and that whatever works for one society does not necessarily mean that it will work for another (Grodach and Silver 85). The argument goes further to state that people are categorized in three different groups when it comes to politics. At times, people parochial, (individuals unaware of the importance of politics in their lives) and other subjects who think they do not have the power to influence or change. However, there are those individuals who know and understand their rights and for that reason, they practice voting. The individual’s perception of a good government is encrypted to the orientation towards the authority in office, which bring the idea of Democrats and Republicans in the state of Virginia (Stewart et al. 178).
For the mere reason, that democracy is wide spread, and the state of Virginia is a commonwealth state, citizens in Virginia ought to see democracy from a paternalistic view about the Government. However, in the state of Virginia, one cannot miss getting individuals who choose to see the government as an institutional arrangement (Grodach and Silver 125).

References

Brisbin, Richard A. West Virginia Politics and Government. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008. Print.
Gleach, Frederic W. Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultures. Lincoln, Neb: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. Print.
Grodach, Carl, and Daniel Silver. The Politics of Urban Cultural Policy. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Lane, Jan-Erik, and Svante O Ersson. Culture and Politics. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate, 2005. Print.
Stewart, T. M., Brisbin, R. A., Dilger, R. J., Hammock, A. S. and Mooney, C. Z. West Virginia Politics And Government. Publius 27.1 (1997): 153. Web. <www.lva.virginia.gov/faq/va.asp>