Buy essay on The TV Drama The West Wing as an Example of Civic Culture in the Mass Media

Civic culture is a necessary component of the normal existence of any democratic society. The mass media being a strong and powerful tool of influence cannot ignore the phenomenon of civic culture, however, different media resources implement it in different dimensions and to a particular degree. Peter Dahlgren, a famous scientist, professor of the Lund University and Member of the European Science Foundation’s COST A 30 Network, discusses the notion of ‘civic culture’, its history and modern interpretation in his article Internet and the Democratization of Civic Culture. This paper will analyze how civic culture functions on the example on the political TV drama The West Wing.
Peter Dahlgren refers to the historical background of the notion, speaks about its significance for the modern society, close correlation with political and economic life and gives prognoses for its development in the future. In order to analyze the notion of ‘civic culture’ in such type of the mass media as a film, which is concerned with the political message, it is necessary to discuss the definition of this phenomenon. Dahlgren presents it in such a way: “this notion of civic culture can thus be seen as an important region of the life-world, with its negotiation of norms and values” (Dahlgren, 2006, p. 118). The author of article, and it is difficult to argue with him, indicates that civic culture promotes the idea of citizenship and active social and political position of the citizens in a democratic society. Politization of the society is an important component of any democratic and developed society.
Civic culture is closely connected with civil society, however, these notions should not be confused. Civic culture has a more general definition and global meaning. Peter Dahlgren writes: “One could say that civic culture resides within civil society, but this is not the whole story, since civic culture shores up full-blown political participation as well, not just the pre- or proto-political activity normally gathered under the civil society label” (Dahlgren, 2006, p. 117).

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He defines four important components of civic cultures: knowledge, values, practices and identities. Each aspect has different manifestations of civic culture and contributes to notion understanding and these components are presented to a different level in The West Wing.
Knowledge and competencies are the basis of civic culture. It is obvious that in order to judge about something, its necessary to be accustomed with the subject of discussion. Knowledge allows people to analyze the political and economic situation, make opinion about it and react in a proper way. Media plays a very important, perhaps the leading role, in this quality formation. TV, newspapers, the radio and the Internet supply people with the information and its role should be underestimated. The West Wing concentrates on this aspect of civil culture. It represents A definite period of American history (seven years) in all detail including interesting facts and interpretations.
The next important principle of civic culture is Loyalty to democratic values and procedures. Every society should propagate and support democratic values and principles. It must be part of the public consciousness and contribute to the social development. Democratic values are supported by the legislative system of the American administrative system. Nevertheless, initially people should accept these democratic principles and only then they may be reflected in the legislative system. Media, especially, television also plays an important role propagating these values. In the TV drama under consideration, the director pays special attention to modern democratic values, such as freedom, tolerance, peace and sympathy
The third component of civic culture is practices, routines and traditions. Theoretical basis represented by the knowledge about democracy is important, however, not enough. It should be implemented on practice. Dahlgren writes: “Such practices help generate personal and social meaning in relation to the ideals of democracy, and they must have an element of the routine, of the taken for granted about them, if they are to be a part of a civic culture. Elections can be seen as a form of practice in this regard, but a civic culture requires many other practices, pertinent to many other circumstances in everyday life, to civil and political society” (Dahlgren, 2006, p. 123). Media serves as a great tool to show appropriate models and patterns of behavior, rules of communication and interaction for common citizens. On the example of historical events of seven years we see that not all theoretical knowledge may be peacefully applied on practice. Such tragic episodes, as 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq prove this fact in the drama.
The last aspect of civic culture, in accordance with Dahlgren’s theory, is the notion of identity. Earlier, citizenship was mostly connected with the political sphere of life, however, this position has changed nowadays and citizenship has become the subject of attention of social studies. Recent researches show that a democratic citizen of the country is a well-formed identity with strong social and political position. This person is ready to take responsibility for his or her choice and realize his or her significance in the field of political and economic relations. This side of civic culture is shown in a veiled way in The West Wing. However, careful audience may get an impression of the proper civil identity if to collect all parts of this notion.