ABSTRACT
Patterns of attitudes and behavior within political culture are individually learned in processes of political socialization. The assumption both among general observers as well as political scientists is that aside from general patterns of behavior, there also exist specific patterns at different levels of society or more precisely in specific subsystems of the political system. Political culture ultimately determines what is allowed to be considered a political issue. Experienced Austrian officials are often convinced that political problems and conflicts may solve themselves automatically if one avoids conscious intervention. The dominant internal pattern of the subsystem of politics is that of consociation or, according to the term usually applied in German, of concordance. This pattern has been frequently described as the typical behavioral pattern of Austrian political elites; in practical politics it is extolled again and again, or postulated as a norm for actual political action.
