The Culture Struggle

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Parenti: "Culturalist Explanations"
Academically, we understand culture as representing the customs and mores of a society, including its beliefs and ideology as reflected in its language, art, laws, and religion, and is transmitted from generation to generation by socialization with the family, school, media, etc., serving as agents of transmission. Parenti said, "we get our culture from a network of social relations involving other people: primary groups such as family, peers, and other informal associations within the community or, as is increasingly the case, from more formally articulated and legally chartered institutions such as schools, media, churches, government agencies, corporations, and the military."
In discussing political power and its relation to culture, Parenti maintains that "the resources of power are lodged in the social structure itself, the culture, institutions, and established social roles, and that ruling elements maintain their dominant positions not only by raw economic power but by attaining "cultural hegemony". (Wikipedia) Political processes, behaviors, decisions, and including political issues and concerns have cultural underpinnings and can only be understood and resolved by "culturalist explanations". That is why, during elections, a candidate who is perceived to be strongly resembling a cultural group is voted to be the "representative" of a that group. In a popularity system of elections, like the US and most of democratic political systems, if the cultural group constitutes the majority, the candidate wins the election. During electoral campaigns then, the candidates establish a "cultural" identification with the majority to be elected to positions.
"Cultural ...