Politics in Australian culture

Abstract

The idea that politics occurs in cultural spaces is one that makes most sense when viewed in the light of discourse theories and post-structuralism (Chapter 5). Treating cultural spaces as political spaces is important for extending the spaces of participation addressed in some democratic theories (Chapter 1). On this view, enhancing democracy requires opening up both cultural and political spaces to increased participation. These spaces are also important to the production of the gender stereotypes that feminists criticise (see Chapter 4). Treating cultural spaces as sites of politics significantly extends the political behaviour that is the focus of interest of those who study politics. So behaviouralists might recognise an implicit challenge in this chapter to extend their notions of ‘political’ behaviour (see Chapter 3). A deeper challenge, though, confronts institutionalists (Chapter 2), who are even less likely to recognise the cultural spaces discussed here as political spaces. International politics theorists (Chapter 6) are likely to see the cultural patterns here as both the result of, and as contributing to, Australia’s place in the world.