Culture and Politics

This short accessible text presents an overview of the relevance of culture for politics. Culture figured prominently in the theories of the great classics, such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber and discussion of cultural politics has been revived and variegated with the influence of postmodernism. Section I of the book discusses the relevance of cultural perspectives to political analysis including discussion of the most significant concepts and methods. Section II looks at the core elements of political culture #xE2;#xAC;#x1C; tradition, ethnicity and religion. Section III examines emerging research avenues and opportunities including social capital, value orientations in the postmodern world, newer formulations of political culture such as gender and sexuality and the influence of the environment.

Jan-Erik Lane has taught as a professor in several universities around the globe. He has published numerous books and articles on many topics in political science. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany. Uwe Wagschal holds the chair of Political Sciences with focus on Comparative Politics at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany.