Traditionalistic Political Culture
One of the political cultures (pages 81-89 in Fowler) and develop a 150-200 word position statement suggesting how organizational leaders should work within it.
Traditionalistic Political Culture
As suggested in Table 4.3 https://plus.pearson.com/products/debad19c-fe46-4303-934c-f231fb27dd22/pages/f5ccb083-8dcc-11ec-bb18-0f43a72fbf12.xhtml#f35cf850250ef541275f3b2df2fb4c4e, traditionalistic political culture is dominant in the South and in regions of the country where southerners originally settled. One major characteristic of this culture is ambivalence toward the market and unrestrained commercial enterprise. It is no coincidence, for example, that the first major American critique of capitalism was produced by a southern politician, John C. Calhoun, whose analysis of the social ills produced by industrialization anticipated some of Karl Marx’s ideas. A second major characteristic of traditionalistic political culture is the belief that an established elite should provide political leadership. Although the exact nature of this elite can vary—it may consist of the local “good ol’ boys” in one place and of a group of highly educated patricians in another—membership in it is achieved through family or other social ties. The overriding political goal is maintaining the established order or, if it must change because of changing circumstances, bringing about the transition with minimal disruption.
In traditionalistic political cultures, government is seen as a positive force in society—as long as it restricts its activity to maintaining the status quo. Active participation in politics is considered a privilege that should be restricted to the members of the elite and those whom they invite to become involved. Political parties and political ideology are unimportant; typically, traditionalist areas have a one-party system, and major issues are fought out between factions of the dominant party. However, kinship, social connections, and personal relationships are extremely important. In this culture, politicians are expected to have and steadily maintain a wide-ranging network of personal relationships. Although the traditionalistic political culture is not as likely to become corrupt as is the individualistic culture, domination by corrupt elites is sometimes a problem in traditionalistic areas.
Traditionalistic political culture brings several strengths to U.S. politics. Its skepticism about unrestrained commercial activity sometimes causes its representatives to raise important questions, and its concern for continuity provides needed balance in a rapidly changing society. Moreover, elite political systems occasionally produce courageous, even brilliant, leaders who probably would never succeed in politics in the other two cultures. Senators William Fulbright of Arkansas and Robert Byrd of West Virginia come to mind. Because their power was rooted in a base comprising kinship and other social ties, they were sometimes able to take unpopular stands, secure in the knowledge that they would be reelected anyway. Obviously, the traditionalistic political culture also has major weaknesses. Its resistance to change has been a major factor in perpetuating racism, and its elitism discourages widespread political participation, including high voter turnout (Elazar, 2003).