ABSTRACT
A New Political Culture (NPC) is emerging, but its recognition is long overdue—largely because many intelligent persons wear analytical lenses that do not focus on it. This chapter focuses on issues like tolerance for new women's roles or multiculturalism, and other items measured in many citizen surveys on social tolerance. It follows Marx in defining class as rooted in occupational/labor market differences. The chapter shows that the several definitional elements increasingly describe Western political systems. It draws on surveys of citizens and leaders in the United States (US) and Europe over the past several decades, which show progressive emergence of the NPC, especially among younger persons. The US and Taiwan are among the few countries in the world to hold "primary" elections, permitting average citizens to vote on party candidates. The hottest national issues in the US in 1989 were abortion, who may burn the American flag, and drugs—strikingly noneconomic policies. In the mid-1970s, many American governments began cutting spending.
