Can Tocqueville Karaoke? Global Contrasts of Citizen Participation, the Arts and Development: Volume 11

This volume outlines a new framework for analysis of democratic participation and economic growth. The new framework joins two past traditions. Their background histories are clearly separate. Democratic participation ideas come mostly from Alexis de Tocqueville, while innovation/bohemian ideas driving the economy are largely inspired by Joseph Schumpeter and Jane Jacobs. New developments building on these core ideas are detailed in the first two sections of this volume. But these chapters in turn show that more detailed work within each tradition leads to an integration of the two: participation joins innovation. This is the main theme in the book’s third section, the buzz around arts and culture organizations, and how and why they are critical drivers for the new democratic politics and cutting edge economies. Buzz enters as a new resource, with new rules of the game. It does not dominate; it parallels other activities which continue.

What drives workplace and political collaboration, democracy, trust, economic and population growth? Or protest against them? The Western models emerging from Putnam, Verba et al., Florida, Glaeser, Lloyd, Scott, and Porter stress variables that sometimes shift dramatically in Asia. Those relying on individualism and personal initiative, from Tocqueville on – which stress participation as driving legitimacy, and bohemia as innovating – often fail or shift drastically in a new study of related dynamics in China, Korea, and Japan, compared to the United States, Canada, France, and Spain. Karaoke restaurants and bars can play critical roles, reinforcing workplace and family solidarity, while organized groups shift in their dynamics from the West. We are constructing a multilevel interpretative framework specifying how cultural, political, and economic dynamics interpenetrate in distinct but varying combinations. How engaged or alienated are young persons, workers, and the general public shift other processes. Arts and culture can build glamour and charisma, or alienate as transgressive and inauthentic; each varies by context.

Analyzing the 2004 U.S. General Social Survey and Korean General Social Survey, this chapter attempts to show that even similar climates of associationalism in two countries can lead to differential consequences for participatory democracy, depending on the associations’ capacities to foster civic resources. This chapter first examines whether the politically desirable traits of civic virtue and social trust essential to political participation can be developed by associational membership in the United States and Korea. Second, it investigates whether associational membership strengthens, weakens, or leaves unchanged the effects of socioeconomic resources measured by educational attainment and family income on political participation especially among association members in these two countries. The results indicate that voluntary associations in the United States, compared to those in Korea, do a better job of playing the role of civic educator and even of political equalizer. First, associational membership significantly and positively affects civic virtue and social trust in the United States. Second, associational membership does not affect civic virtue and social trust in Korea. Third, the effects of educational attainment and family income on political participation among members are weak in the United States. Fourth, the effects of educational attainment and family income on political participation among members are strong in Korea. Therefore, this chapter concludes that voluntary associations do not contribute to participatory equality in Korea despite its vibrant group-centered culture, whereas their American counterparts are relatively effective in bringing about the expected outcome.

In this chapter, we review how scenes theory can be related to civic participation and how the relationship differs across Seoul, Tokyo, and Chicago. The discussion begins with the major Western theory of Tocqueville/Putnam that participation drives legitimacy. However, it can be briefly relativized by introducing alternative paths. These ideas link to results from Kim (Kim, S. 2008) that show different paths for legitimacy and trust according to different political development and different cultural structure in the society. As shown in Fig. 1 of Chapter 2, most of Northwest Europe and North America supports Model 1: more participation leads to more trust. Obversely, Latin Americans have such low participation and trust that even if participation “works” for a few it misses the great majority. However, the model grows more complex when we shift to Korea, Portugal, and Eastern Europe, as the participation to trust path coefficient falls to zero: no impact. For some subgroups, the coefficient even becomes negative (Model 4). How can we codify these results and link them to our cumulative theorizing? This question cannot be answered with a simplistic generalization. Instead, we need to introduce a different conceptual framing to ask where and why and how much this happens.

In this chapter, we try to suggest various propositions to explain differences in civic participation in the three cities by using various concepts related to scenes.

From Egypt to South Korea, traditional institutions and sources of authority are being challenged as never before. To survive and prosper, organizations and institutions adapt to the changing values and needs of people in a modern, globalizing world. This essay discusses how some organizations adapt traditional, hierarchical authority to the challenges of a dynamic, diversifying society. It presents three claims. First, modernizing, liberalizing societies generate a tendency to separation and indifference. Second, “authoritative” organizations that stress obedience to a set of beliefs and practices partly counter these atomizing tendencies and attract many, diverse persons. Third, the formation of diverse, authoritative communities is more likely among newcomers or outsiders less attached to historic, societal divides. I illustrate this with some preliminary findings and observations, mostly in USA but also in South Korea. ¹

This chapter is one of the first to analyze how local culture – especially voluntary associations and public arts activities – can mobilize citizens and increase voter turnout. This general hypothesis is contextualized by contrasting types of elections (French presidential vs. European Union) and types of art (contemporary, patrimonial, folkloric). We test these contextualized hypotheses by analyzing demographic, cultural, and political data from 263 French communes using linear regression methods. Civic associations and some arts activities seem to increase turnout in European but not presidential elections. Further, arts types vary in their association with voting for different parties. These findings suggest the importance of civic and arts activities for future analyses of voting turnout and party voting.

City governments know well that culture is a powerful tool they can use to promote local development. Those governors also know that there are different ways to pursue that process. Two main strategies considered here are: instructional strategies, which promote cultural services among local inhabitants, and instrumental strategies to promote economic development creating big cultural spaces and large events. This chapter shows the impact of cultural strategies on the attraction of creative residents (creative class), as well as on income differences among Spanish municipalities.

Our main hypothesis is: in comparison with instructional strategies, instrumental strategies have a positive impact on local creativity and economic development. Using secondary data from the Spanish census, cultural strategies in a local area are analyzed, and are included in multiple regression models to test this idea.

These analyses show that, first, instrumental strategies have a positive impact on creative class localization; second, these strategies have a positive impact on local income regardless of the presence of a creative class, and moreover, the impact of a creative class on local income depends on the orientation of cultural strategies. This implies that the impact of creativity on local development is contextual according to the nature of local cultural strategies.

As noted in this volume’s introduction, Bohemia is considered a core component driving innovation and urban development in the West. From Balzac through Richard Florida, Bohemians are creative. Artists are the quintessence in the sense that breaking the eggs of tradition is a prerequisite to cooking a new omelet. The core idea seems broadly accepted by many readers and commentators in the United States and Western Europe. However, many Korean intellectuals react with puzzlement when asked what or where is the local Bohemia. Many imply that there are none in most Asian countries. There is evidence for this argument. Korean university students seem to dress more elegantly than Westerners. Many female students often wear skirts or dresses and high-heeled shoes and make up to class. Regarding tolerance of homosexuals, there is a famous story about a television star who “came out” with his gay identity and was fired from his job. Dressing inelegantly and tolerating gays are two possible indicators of Bohemia that Richard Florida has stressed, but a critical point to reassess is whether the idea of Bohemia should be revised or whether a new concept should be considered as Asian variations are more specifically incorporated into international theory.

This chapter will examine whether or not Bohemia is absent using scene data. The results will also be compared with those from Chicago to lead to incorporate Asian variations more specifically.

This chapter explores the idea that democratic political legitimacy can emerge by other means than voting or citizen participation. Beyond these conventional methods of building legitimacy, we contend that alternative modes are emerging all over the world. Among these emergent forms are a wide range of policies, from China’s economic growth to Bogotá’s use of pantomime street crossing guards, replacing corrupt traffic police. Matched to their context, these policies may enhance political legitimacy. Particularly in locations with weak traditions of citizen participation, exploring alternatives to classic Tocquevillian participation may have more impact. Examining some major successes can illuminate alternative dynamics. We thus feature some specific non-Tocquevillian policies to open consideration of options.

The rise of arts and culture is transforming citizen politics. Though new to many social scientists, this is a commonplace for many policy makers. We seek to overcome this divide by joining culture and the arts with classic concepts of political analysis. We offer an analytical framework incorporating the politics of cultural policy alongside the typical political and economic concerns. Our framework synthesizes several research streams that combine in global factors driving the articulation of culture into political/economic processes. The contexts of Toronto and Chicago are explored as both enhanced the arts dramatically, but Toronto engaged artists qua citizens, while Chicago did not.

Several theories suggest transformations in citizen participation. Putnam and many others suggest a decline in participation. By adding issue specificity, we find that the arts and culture are a major exception: they are rising in many countries and contexts.

Eight propositions state how contexts shift citizen participation. Religion, consumption patterns, and varied political repertoires transform participation. Hierarchical, authoritarian contexts foster antiestablishment participation and protest activities. Trust only emerges from some contexts. Participation in the arts and culture vary with other contextual elements.

The analysis of cultural consumption centers on the influence of individual characteristics (mainly social class). However, this chapter proposes that this relationship is contextual. More specifically, this relationship varies according to the nature of local cultural scenes where people live. In order to show the contextual impact of cultural scenes, we analyze a representative survey among a Spanish population. Three main conclusions are drawn. First, two main dimensions explain the patterns of cultural consumption by the Spanish population: the classical distinction between popular and high culture, and the distinction between conventional and unconventional cultural practices. Second, other characteristics, beside social class, are important to explain the implication of population in different patterns of cultural consumption, for instance, age; young people are oriented toward more unconventional practices regardless of their social class. Third, local cultural scenes matter: the difference between cultural practices of different groups (for instance, young and old people) is reduced in municipalities oriented toward unconventionality, showing an “assimilation contextual effect.” This contextual effect also has some impact upon local cultural policies that we mention briefly.

The analysis of lifestyles and cultural consumption has focused mainly on determining the impact of individual attributes on the types of practices developed by individuals. However, the effect of the access or exposure to certain opportunities of cultural consumption is less frequently analyzed, or even whether this exposure has different effects according to different social groups. The analysis of this issue is one of the objectives of the “Cultural Scene” research program, which is being developed under the project “Cultural Dynamics of Cities.” In this chapter, we try to determine whether existing cultural scenes in different municipalities influence how Spanish residents develop their cultural practices, with data from a nationally representative survey.

Does civic participation, especially in the arts, increase democracy? This chapter extends this neo-Tocquevillian question in three ways. First, to capture broader political and economic transformations, we consider different types of participation; results change by separate participation arenas. Some are declining, but a dramatic finding is the rise of arts and culture. Second, to assess impacts of participation, we include multiple dimensions of democratic politics, including distinct norms of citizenship and their associated political repertoires. Third, by analyzing global International Social Survey Program and World Values Survey data, we identify dramatic subcultural differences: the Tocquevillian model is positive, negative, or zero in seven different subcultures and contexts that we explicate, from class politics and clientelism to Protestant and Orthodox Christian civilizational traditions.