Political Culture and Democracy: Analyzing Cross-Level Linkages

2003/10/01 by Ronald Inglehart, Christian Welzel · 3 citations
Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Religion and Society Interactions

paper · doi:10.2307/4150160

Abstract

Do individual-level attitudes play a significant role in sustaining democratic institutions at the societal level? In a recent article in Comparative Politics, Seligson argued that the strong aggregate-level correlations Inglehart found between political culture and stable democracy were spurious because there are no individual-level correlations between political culture and overt support for democracy. Seligson's analysis exemplifies the sort of cross-level fallacy he attributes to Inglehart: he equates individual-level support for democracy with the presence of democratic institutions. However, individual-level support of democracy is only weakly linked with societal-level democracy. Democracy currently has a positive image almost everywhere, but favorable opinions are often superficial. Unless they are accompanied by more deeply rooted orientations of tolerance, trust, and participation, chances for effective democracy are poor.

Cited by

• Cultural and economic prerequisites of democracy: Reassessing recent evidence
• Legitimacy and context: implications for public sector reform in developing countries
• Where You Are Is Who You Are? The Geographical Account of Psychological Phenomena. [europepmc]

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