THE PHENOMENON OF POLITICAL CULTURE: THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Problem setting. The formation of the rule of law state and civil society in Ukraine is largely conditioned by the state of political culture, which emerges as an important component of the sociocultural image of the nation and at the same time as a structural element of the political system of the state, which determines the nature of the interaction between the state and citizens, the state and institutions of democracy.Recent research and publications analysis. The study of political culture belongs to the sphere of scientific interests of Ukrainian and foreign scientists. Problems of studying political culture were addressed by such Ukrainian scientists as V. Bebyk, M. Golovaty, L. Gorodenko, M. Dmytrenko, L. Nagorna, V Rebkalo, N. Repina, O. Rudakevich, O. Stehnii, M. Trebin, B. Tsymbalistyi and others. Important contributions to the theoretical development ofpolitical culture ideas have also been made by foreign scholars, including G. Almond, R. Jackman, L. Dittmer, R. Ellis, D. Fuchs, R. Lane, J. Lorenz, I. Lustick, S. Maerz, R. Miller, W. Mishler, M. Neumann, L. Pye, W. Rosenbaum, C. Schneider, R. Tucker, S. Verba, et al.Paper objective. The purpose of the article is to study the nature and structure of political culture, to consider the features of its typology.Paper main body. The concept of «political culture» as a subjective dimension of politics was introduced in to scientific circulation only in the XVIII century by German philosopher J. Herder and until the middle of the twentieth century it was view edrather at the level of world-view universalism ratherthaninits specific form sandmanifestations. Through the efforts of G. Almond, S. Verba, L. Pye, D. Kavanagh, and other researchers, the theoretical foundations for considering political culture were developed.In the future, three major theoretical and methodological approaches to defining the essence ofpolitical culture have emerged in political science. The first of these, including the time of its appearance, is an orientation approach that, by its very nature, reduces political culture to the sphere of political consciousness (G. Almond, S. Verba, L. Pye, J. Powell, etc.). But it should be noted that representatives of the orientation approach to the consideration ofpolitical culture leave out of its content elements ofpolitical behavior that have been the subject of special analysis in the writings of a number of scholars (R. Tucker, E. Wind, D. Paul, etc.), who believe that along with the «samples» of political consciousness, political samples must necessarily include «samples» of political behavior. The third theoretical and methodological approach to the analysis of political culture is reflected in the works of such foreign scholars as I. Shapiro, P. Sharan, and others. In these works, political culture is interpreted as a way, style of political activity, as a system of behavioral values, peculiar «spiritual codes» of the behavior of individuals in the political sphere, which testify to the degree of free assimilation of the generally accepted norms andtraditions of public life, to the combination in their daily activities of standard and creative techniques for the exercise of their rights and responsibilities.It should be noted that today the concept of political culture is increasingly enriched by the meanings derived from «culture» as a supernatural reality, which expresses the integrity of life manifestations of society. As a result, political culture acts as a political dimension of the cultural environment, as a characteristic of the consciousness and behavior of individuals and social groups, as an indicator of civilizational development. In this regard, political culture can be interpreted as part of a general culture and inheritance, including a historically formed set ofpolitical knowledge, values, behavior patterns of a social subject (individual, social group, society as a whole) and their implementation in a particular system political relations and political activity. Such an understanding of political culture allows us to distinguish it, according to N. Semke, into three main components: 1) regulatory element (political experience); 2) the value element (political consciousness); 3) behavioral element (models of political behavior).Theoretical and methodological analysis of political culture requires consideration of the typology of this phenomenon. The most popular and scientific application was the classification of political cultures, proposed by G. Almond and S. Verba. The criterion for the typology ofpolitical cultures was the level of «frequency ofdifferent types of cognitive, emotional and evaluative orientations to the political system». On this basis, pure types of political cultures were distinguished: patriarchal, subordinate and participatory.Conclusions of the research. Political culture characterizes the degree and quality of political consciousness and political participation of people in solving state and public affairs, as well as ideological worldview aspects of the spiritual life of society in a specific historical period of its development and existence.