Elazar, Daniel "The American Cultural Matrix" (1975)

Main point: This article looks at three types of political culture and argues that their origins lie in the patterns of

early immigration to America.

As a whole, the US shares a general political culture that is rooted in two contrasting conceptions of the American political order:

* Political order as a marketplace: primary public relationships are products of bargaining among individuals and groups acting out of self interest (POWER)

* Political order as a commonwealth: a state in which people have an undivided interest in which citizens cooperate to create the best government in order to implement shared moral principals (JUSTICE)

(These concepts of political order are nicely illustrated in Elazar's diagram of the "Matrix of value Concepts in American Culture on page15.)

The national political culture is synthesis of 3 major political subcultures. All three are nationwide, spreading from coast to coast, yet each is strongly tied to specific sections of the country reflecting the streams and currents of historical migration.

Individualistic (Mid Atlantic)

Characteristics:

- Emphasizes the conception of the democratic order as a marketplace

- Govt. exists for utilitarian reasons

- Politics is another means by which people can improve themselves socially and economically

- Political life is based on a system of mutual obligations

- Ideological concerns are not important, rather there is a business like conception of politics which supports the development of professional politicians

Origins:

- Ethnic groups from non-Puritan England and the Germanic states who settled in the mid-Atlantic then traveled eastward (Chicago)

- Settlers came in search of individual opportunity and the pursuit of private (not communalistic) goals

Moralistic (New England)

Characteristics:

- Emphasizes the commonwealth conception

- Politics is seen as one of the great activities of man in the search for a good society

- Role of govt. is to promote the general welfare

Origins:

- Primarily found in Northern US

- Emerges from the Puritans and their Yankee descendents who came with the intent of establishing a holy commonwealth

Traditionalistic (South)

Characteristics:

- Rooted in ambivalence towards the marketplace and a paternalistic and elitist conception of the commonwealth

- Accepts govt. as an actor with a positive role, role should be limited to the maintenance of order (status quo)

Origins:

- Settlers in the southern states sought individual freedom but were primarily landed gentry who sought opportunities in a plantation centered agricultural system reliant on slavery

- Politicians tended to be elites who sought to maintain the system