ABSTRACT
The New Political Culture (NPC) issues include more direct and active citizen democracy, environmentalism, abortion, and similar lifestyle concerns. The NPC and class politics are often political antagonists. What encourages one discourages the other. They are confused and intermingled in national politics, most regions, and larger cities, since the larger electorates are more heterogeneous in their preferences and support larger and more powerful political parties. This chapter draws largely on the Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project, Key variables and relations hypothesized in the NPC theory. Robert Putnam's striking work on Italy supports many NPC propositions. Southern Italy, with more hierarchy and political clientelism, contrasts with the northern region. The media are increasingly important for politics, particularly for the NPC. The chapter considers the causes and correlates of media importance and suggests that the media can empower citizens by providing them with more information and new ways of thinking about authority and politics.
