Politics, policy, and culture

the long version

This new set of original case studies is designed to offer an empirical counterpart to Cultural Theory (Westview, 1990), the landmark statement of political culture theory authored by Michael Thompson, Richard Ellis, and Aaron Wildavsky, and to extend and challenge the analysis developed there. Here, the theoretical concepts laid out in that book are operationalized and applied in textbook fashion to key areas in methodology, public policy, and history. Highlights include essays on risk perception, environmental regulation, and mental health policies and a never-before-published piece on "Culture, Rationality, and Violence," by Sun-Ki Chai and Aaron Wildavsky.