Cultural theory as a theory of democracy

Abstract

The rapid economic, social, and political changes of the past two decades have placed considerable stress on democratic institutions. Changes in the labour market, new forms of social co‐operation, as well as an ever growing multiplicity of life‐styles have undermined the relevance of many socio‐political arrangements central to democracies in advanced capitalist societies. In particular, growing social heterogeneity has given rise to the question of whom or what organized interest groups actually represent. Moreover, the theoretical approaches used to analyse and assess democratic structures and democratic practices have become increasingly unable to explain current political behaviour. Based on an individualist concept of interest, these theories have consistently ignored the socio‐insitutional, that is the cultural, dimension. In an attempt to realign democratic theory with socio‐cultural reality, this paper is a first stab at systematically introducing culture into democratic theory. The paper applies Mary Douglas's ‘Cultural Theory’ to the theory of democracy and outlines a theoretical framework for assessing democratic structures and practices.