ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the possibility that the myth of citizen competence, upon which the civic culture is said to depend, has to a significant degree been shattered by developments occurring at both the elite and mass levels in our society. For Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, the “civic culture” entails a delicate mix among citizens of participant, subject, and parochial orientations—an elusive combination that permits “the maintenance of a proper balance between governmental power and governmental responsiveness” in a democracy. In the context of democratic values, feelings of powerlessness tend to create feelings of hostility toward that authority.” Like Almond and Verba, Samuel Huntington believed that “the effective operation of a democratic political system usually requires some measure of apathy and non-involvement on the part of some individuals and groups.” A commitment to participatory norms per se may in fact represent only part of the heightened sense of democratic entitlement that some analysts say exists among the American public.
