Changes in the sociopolitical sphere affect political values. System of values regulates relation of the person and society. Sociopolitical changes transform basic social institutions.
The political culture is one of those problems which are on a joint of public disciplines, and is a subject of their studying. The problem of the management of the political conscience, necessity of a scientific basis of political behavior of citizens led (since 50th years of the XX-th century) to the treatment theories of political culture. Among them it is necessary to note the works of G. Almond, S. Verba, R. Merton, B. Skinner, E. Fromm. The classification of political culture, offered by G. Almond and S. Verba, has received wide popularity. It is based on the results of comparative analysis of the political cultures, which exist in various countries, depending on degree of orientation of people on participation in political life, in maintenance political system
functioning.
We select the most significant characteristics of political culture in order to use this analysis in future studies.
Specificity of political culture. The political culture characterizes the most constant person´s notion and the typical shape of his relations with the authorities.
The subject of political culture. Style of the person´s political activity is a measure of how he had learned and recognized current norms and traditions of state life.
Possible mismatch of the person´s intentions and actions adds to the political culture internal contradictions; allows «logical», «illogical», «outer logical» elements (V. Pareto) coexist in it; contributes to the simultaneous maintenance of active and passive forms of political participation of the individual.
Institutionalization of political culture. Formation of political culture is realized through assimilation and maintenance people of its norms, patterns, standards of conduct and traditions.
Political adaptation. A person, learning the requirements of the status and role behavior, cultural values, develops its own spiritual potential, which allows to adapt to a definite political system, that is the political socialization of a person took place.
M. Habermas, C. Luman consider political socialization as the process of new values development by a person; they put forward intrapersonal, psychological mechanisms of formation of political consciousness and human behavior.
E. Erikson, E. Fromm pay attention to the study of unconscious motives of political activities (forms of political protest, countercultural behavior); they conceive political socialization as a hidden process of politicization of human feelings and notions.
The theoretical basis of the approach is the theory of rational choice, rather, one of its versions, including the analysis of cultural values, «cultural rationality». Political culture is not an alternative to a rational behavior, but it is a rational adaptation of tendency to the requirements of the institutional environment. Entering mutual relations with the power, people gradually master the most preferable strategy of behavior. It is considered that the concept of cultural rationality includes not only integrated content of political culture of the given society, but also the political culture of individual age cohorts, socialized in a specific political-institutional conditions.
Cultural rationality is manifested in the relations between citizens and the political system. According to Weber, any government strives to maintain its own legitimacy, convincing the public that the existing political institutions have a legitimate right to exist. In a long term plan, the task of legitimizing the system is not solved, for the system does not become effective, that is capable of meeting the material needs of citizens. But the loyalty of the system can be maintained by repressive measures. However, the threat of repression can´t provide political stability for a long time.
The effective political system offers to the public two stimuli (A. Panebianko), using which the leaders of political organizations attract their supporters: the collective and selective.
The collective stimuli mean the achieving of the organization´s ideological goals, selective mean various material «benefits» (increasing the status, social security, subsidiary measures). The prevalence of any stimuli is a theoretical assumption; usually a potential member of the organization seeks to benefit from their combination. Panebianko distinguishes only theoretically those for whom the most important selective stimuli, and those whose main interest is focused on collective stimuli. The system of stimuli of the real political organizations should include collective and selective stimuli. Their correlation may change with time. Collective stimuli are dominated at the initial stage of the organization´s formation, and then selective stimuli obtain the leading hand.
The political system of a society uses a similar set of stimuli. Offering them to the citizens, it demands loyalty in return, which should be expressed in certain norms of behavior. Depending on what stimuli dominate at the moment, and what it takes to get the desirable, cultural and political person´s attitudes adapt to the political system. Almond believes that the disparity of positions and behavioral acts serves as a latent or potential source of political influence and activity.
Civil culture maintains a balance between authority and responsibility indicates another point of democratic politics. It provides an opportunity to understand why the most important political issues, if they remain unresolved, after all, create instability in a democratic political system. Balance between activity and passivity actually supported only if political issues are not too severe. If the political life is hard and remains so because of the pendency of the issue, which is in the spotlight, the discrepancy between attitudes and behavior begins to lose stability. Any long-term demolition of discrepancy very likely entails negative consequences. If we bring the behavior to conformity with the orientations, the volume of the control, which non - elite will implement over elite, causes mismanagement and instability. But if the positions are changed in such a way that will be combined with behavior, citizens´ sense of powerlessness and non-inclusion can affect in the destructive image on the democracy of the political system and the society as a whole.
The work was submitted to the International Scientific Conference «Priorities for Science, Technology and Engineering», Italy (Rome-Florence), 10-17 April 2011. Came to the editorial office on 31.02.2011.