Culture on the Rise: How and Why Cultural Membership Promotes Democratic Politics

Filipe Carreira da Silva; Terry Nichols Clark; Susana Cabaço

doi:10.1007/s10767-013-9170-7

International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society

September 2014, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 343–366

Culture on the Rise: How and Why Cultural Membership Promotes Democratic Politics

Authors
Authors and affiliations

Filipe Carreira da SilvaEmail author
Terry Nichols Clark
Susana Cabaço

Article

First Online:: 29 December 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s10767-013-9170-7

Cite this article as:: da Silva, F.C., Clark, T.N. & Cabaço, S. Int J Polit Cult Soc (2014) 27: 343. doi:10.1007/s10767-013-9170-7

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Abstract

Selectively using Tocqueville, many social scientists suggest that civic participation increases democracy. We go beyond this neo-Tocquevillian model in three ways. First, to capture broader political and economic transformations, we consider different types of participation; results change if we analyze separate participation arenas. Some are declining, but a dramatic finding is the rise of arts and culture. Second, to assess impacts of participation, we study more dimensions of democratic politics, including distinct norms of citizenship and their associated political repertoires. Third, by analyzing global International Social Survey Programme and World Values Survey data, we identify dramatic subcultural differences: the Tocquevillian model is positive, negative, or zero in different subcultures and contexts that we explicate.

Keywords

Political culture Civic participation Citizenship Voluntary organizations

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Filipe Carreira da Silva
- 1
Email author
Terry Nichols Clark
- 1
Susana Cabaço
- 1

1.University of LisbonLisbonPortugal

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Culture on the Rise: How and Why Cultural Membership Promotes Democratic Politics

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