Culture Influence On American Politics

Current day politicians can easily influence a culture, especially with new technologies as television and airplanes. However, it is also important to note that this politicians were also raised in a particular culture and thus have been influenced by culture. By remembering the definition of culture “The way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”, it can be observed that culture is not an aspect that persists over time, culture is constantly changing and being adapted to the present day. Also the word “particular” in the definition, demonstrates the difficulty of generalizing cultural questions. Banfield did an impressive job in finding similarities between the culture of Montenegro and the village’s political life, however, his findings are limited to that particular time and that particular group. Thus they do not answer the general …show more content…
However, the Enlightenment, which constitutes the base of his argument, was not a peculiar trait to the French culture alone. Ergo, Sewell should have had focused in what singularity did the French ideology possessed that resulted in a revolution. Geertz wisely accepts the complexity of culture and it peculiarity. But his study is mainly based in culture and does not address the question of the effect it has in politics. Further study of this subject should be made as it could be useful to resolve current issues, for example, many believe that the culture is responsible from preventing the democratization of various countries. Whether democratization would improve the life of the people in these states is another question. Culture does affect politics, however the questions that proceed are: To what extent does culture affects politics? And; how influential are politics in