ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book surveys the various concepts of culture employed in cultural analyses. It examines ethnicity and looks for evidence that various forms of ethnicity matter. Ethnicity matters a great deal for party support in Spain, Belgium and India. The book raises the topic of religion, first as a component of civilizations and then as a determinant of party support in elections and also individual outcomes. The macro analysis takes a fresh look at Max Weber's theory of the consequences of the major world religions, pointing out the connections between religion and outcomes that can be found 100 years after Weber suggested that capitalism originated with Protestantism. The book devotes to the impact of historical legacies. It enters into the field of values research using the well-known world value surveys both the entire surveys and specific country surveys.
