THE CULTURAL PRE-REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY
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THE CULTURAL PRE-REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY. / Welzel, Christian.
The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies. ed. / Robert Rohrschneider; Jaques Thomassen. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020. p. 76-94.Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - THE CULTURAL PRE-REQUISITES OF DEMOCRACY
AU - Welzel, Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Oxford University Press.
PY - 2020/8/6
Y1 - 2020/8/6
N2 - This chapter discusses the mentality structures that must be encultured in a population to allow it to sustain stable democracy. Contrary to the mainstream in the literature, I argue that mass support for democracy, as expressed in surveys, is a rather deceptive indicator of a population’s cultural affinity to democracy. The reason is that support for democracy obscures firmly encultured differences in how people understand democracy. These differences in understanding render numerically similar support ratings incomparable across different populations. By contrast, emancipative values—which emphasize freedom of choice and equality of opportunities—base people’s notion of democracy on a similarly liberal understanding of the term. Hence, overt support for democracy is conducive to actual democracy only in conjunction with emancipative values, but not in dissociation from them. In conclusion, emancipative values represent the most important mentality element of a democratic culture.
AB - This chapter discusses the mentality structures that must be encultured in a population to allow it to sustain stable democracy. Contrary to the mainstream in the literature, I argue that mass support for democracy, as expressed in surveys, is a rather deceptive indicator of a population’s cultural affinity to democracy. The reason is that support for democracy obscures firmly encultured differences in how people understand democracy. These differences in understanding render numerically similar support ratings incomparable across different populations. By contrast, emancipative values—which emphasize freedom of choice and equality of opportunities—base people’s notion of democracy on a similarly liberal understanding of the term. Hence, overt support for democracy is conducive to actual democracy only in conjunction with emancipative values, but not in dissociation from them. In conclusion, emancipative values represent the most important mentality element of a democratic culture.
KW - Culture
KW - Democracy
KW - Legitimacy
KW - Values
KW - Politics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136609295&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/5e776995-edb9-39f3-b0fc-3859c0446d86/
U2 - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198825081.013.3
DO - 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198825081.013.3
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85136609295
SN - 9780198825081
SP - 76
EP - 94
BT - The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies
A2 - Rohrschneider, Robert
A2 - Thomassen, Jaques
PB - Oxford University Press
CY - Oxford
ER -