Politics and Culture: Influences, Changes, and Relevance

Running Head: POLITICS AND CULTURE 1
Politics and Culture
Student’s Name
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POLITICS AND CULTURE 2
Politics and Culture
Introduction
Politics entails all activities relating to governance, power, and jurisdiction over a country
or region (Williams & Gonzalez, 2018). The concept involves exercising power, creating
alliances and advancing specific ideas based on the ruling party. Notably, ideologies such as
democracy, communism, and dictatorship directly relate to politics and governance; and
influence the development and peaceful coexistence of different sub-cultures (Soukias, 2018).
For democracies, the leaders assume office based on popular vote by the existing communities.
Also, public institutions answer to the public affairs, rather than one ruler, a dictator. On the
other hand, culture describes the customs, ideas and social practices of a particular group. It also
involves morals, norms, language, organizations and physical objects such as architecture. This
paper examines politics and culture concerning specific influences on the society.
The relationship between political concepts and cultural forms is vast. The governing
political system must uphold underlying cultural values, beliefs, and attitudes to govern
effectively. In this way, social norms directly influence governance. Globally, leaders must study
the critical perspectives and complexities of different cultures to control the communities; and
respect cultural objects. Also, political processes such as voting must adhere to the society’s
sentiments with practices such as rigging, violence and voter bribery discouraged. Ogunnubi and
Isike (2018) suggest that the close relationship between politics and culture resulted in the
description of the society as the “upstream” of governance.
Notably, cultural practices such as dances, poetry, and games such as the Olympics
promote good governance – this is because they provide platforms for different societies to

POLITICS AND CULTURE 3
display their superiority over others. In recent times, the Olympics are the most prominent
sporting event in the world with its influence on political culture evident (Meyer & Fine, 2017).
However, its diminishing influence allows for new controls which change the cultural and
governance systems - this includes racism, “mass culture” and emerging moral issues such as
race relations, violent extremism, and Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights
among others. The influence of “popular culture” is evident with literature, poetry, movies, and
music used to deploy political messages such as militarism, imperialism, and authoritarian to a
global audience.
New Influences on Politics and Culture
In recent times, the capitalist economy has grown its influence on culture and
governance. Today, the commercial value of customs exceeds its exchange value with
individuals buying more of the foreign culture and less of their own. However, people favor
particular segments rooted in their art, such as folk methodology, dace, medicine, and music.
According to (Luhtakallio & Thévenot, 2018), the folklore emanates from social interactions
with multinational companies seeking to employ mass culture to accumulate wealth. The goal
here is the exchange value rather than the social control considering the vast nature of
entertainment crowds. Another aspect of capitalism is that it allows individuals to purchase a
camera to record a movie or music. The recording is sold or exposed to a global audience via the
internet.
Notably, the World Wide Web interconnects the world allowing more comfortable
sharing of information, ideas, and events. The publications educate the public on cultural issues
as well as political matters. These concepts, however apolitical in intent, have a political impact