How to Study Political Culture Without Naming It

Nonna Mayer (1) , Vincent Tiberj (2)

1 CEE - Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (Sciences Po, CNRS)
2 CED - Centre Émile Durkheim

The boom in survey research, the increasing internationalization of political science, and the development of large-scale comparative projects have renewed the study of political culture and invalidated the notion of a French “exceptionalism.” But French scholars, influenced by Marxism, social history, and Bourdieu’s legacy of “critical sociology,” still have a different understanding of political culture, and prefer to use other concepts such as ideology. After a rapid overview of the founding studies and debates, this chapter shows how French research on political culture or cultures in the plural developed in its own way, and outlines the major challenges it is facing today on issues such as race and ethnicity, gender, globalization, and poverty.

Mots clés: post-materialism; cultural studies; political socialization; cultural distinction; cultural voting; political culture

Domaines: Science politique; Sociologie

Nonna Mayer, Vincent Tiberj. How to Study Political Culture Without Naming It. Robert Elgie; Emiliano Grossman; Amy G. Mazur (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of French Politics, Oxford University Press, pp.329-348, 2016, 9780199669691. ⟨10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199669691.013.15⟩. ⟨halshs-01470458⟩