Course description
This course focuses on the study of political culture, with an emphasis on identifying and explaining patterns of political attitudes and behavior. The first part of the class introduces students to theories pertaining to value formation, transmission, and changes; the second part applies these theories to empirical examination of similarities and differences in value orientations within and across countries.

In addition to theories and empirical studies based on European and North American experiences, the later part of this course will be devoted to examining political culture in Asian countries, focusing on the topic of whether and how Asian traditions may be compatible (or not) with liberal democratic values.

By the end of the semester, students are expected to be familiar with 1) factors that shape the development of and changes in political values; and 2) basic quantitative methods used for analyzing the impact of political culture on individual attitudes and behavior.

Course outline
- political socialization
- generational value transmission
- Almond and Verba's 'civic culture'
- post-materialism
- 'emancipative values'
- contemporary developments in Western political culture
- ‘Asian values’ debate
- Asian exceptionalism

Evaluation
25% attendance and participation
20% in-class presentation
20% reading summaries and critiques
35% term paper

Readings
Beck, Allen. 1977. 'Role of Agents in Political Socialization' in Handbook of Political Socialization [to be distributed in class]
Jennings, M. Kent, Laura Stoker, Jake Bowers. 2009. Politics across Generations: Family Transmission Reexamined. Journal of Politics 71(3): 782-799
Sapiro, Virginia. 2004. Not Your Parents' Political Socialization: Introduction for a New Generation. Annual Review of Political Science 7: 1-23
Judith Rich Harris. 1995. Where Is the Child's Environment? A Group Socialization Theory of Development. Psychological Review 102(3): 458-489
Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba. 1963. The Civic Culture. Princeton University Press [selected chapters; to be distributed in class]
Ronald Inglehart. 1990. Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society. Princeton University Press [selected chapters; to be distributed in class]
Russell J. Dalton and Christian Welzel (eds). 2014. The Civic Culture Transformed. Cambridge University Press [selected chapters; to be distributed in class]
Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris. 2017. Trump and the Populist Authoritarian Parties: The Silent Revolution in Reverse. Perspectives on Politics 15(2): 443-454
Bilahari Kausikan. 1993. Asia's Different Standard. Foreign Policy 92: 24-41
Fareed Zakaria. 1994. Culture Is Destiny: A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew. Foreign Affairs 73(2): 109-126
Kim Dae Jung. 1994. Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia's Anti-Democratic Values. Foreign Affairs 73(6): 189-194
Donald K. Emmerson. 1995. Singapore and the "Asian Values" Debate. Journal of Democracy 6(4): 95-105
Steven J. Hood. 1998. The Myth of Asian-Style Democracy. Asian Survey 38(9): 853-866
Eduard J. Bomhoff and Mary Man-Li Gu. 2012. East Asia Remains Different: A Comment on the Index of “Self-Expression Values” by Inglehart and Welzel. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 43(3): 373-383
Christian Welzel. 2012. The Myth of Asian Exceptionalism: Response to Bomhoff and Gu. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 43(7): 1039-1054
Chong-Min Park and Doh Chull Shin. 2006. Do Asian Values Deter Popular Support for Democracy in South Korea? Asian Survey 46(3): 341-361
Yu-tzung Chang, Yun-han Chu and Frank Tsai. Confucianism and Democratic Values in Three Chinese Societies. Issues and Studies 41(4): 1-33