Political culture, the dimensions of exercising citizenship and the participation in public life

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to think about the elements of exercising citizenship, of political culture and of subjective values that influence political phenomena. The relationship between cultural values and political dynamics still constitutes a controversial issue among political scientists, yet, increasing links between the variables can be perceived. Authors such as Putnam (2000) and Moses (2010) emphasize the importance of the attitudes of the citizenry. The analysis is based on data collected by a survey (2010) conducted with the population of three cities that constitute the so-called urban sprawl of the Metropolitan Region of Maringá: Sarandi, Paiçandu and Maringá. Classical themes were presented in researches on political culture, as well as controversial issues such as the decriminalization of marijuana, the legalization of abortion, among others.

Keywords

• Cidadania
• Participação política
• Valores democráticos.