Political culture refers to what
people believe and feel about government, and how they think people should act
towards it (Bowman). Or more simply
defined by Daniel Elazar as the attitudes, values, beliefs, and orientations
that individuals in a society hold toward their
political system (Elazar). Greensboro has a long history as well as a
very interesting political culture.
Much of Greensboro’s political culture has to do with the expansion of
Greensboro into a large popular city.
Over the years politics have been involved in this process and have
turned Greensboro into the third largest city and a leader in many ways in the
state of North Carolina. Of the three
types of political cultures found by Elazar, I believe that Greensboro falls
into the
traditional category. This
fits in with Elazar’s perception that the traditional category is dominant in
North Carolina (Elazar).
Early
in the 20th century, tensions arose between Greensboro and High Point as High
Point attempted to secede from Guilford County by having the General Assembly
create a new county with it as the county seat. The General Assembly defeated the bill but the issue would
reoccur. At the time, Winston Salem was
the biggest of the Triad cities but High Point then surprised Greensboro by an
annexation that made it North Carolina’s 6th largest city. Greensboro reacted by submitting a charter
to the General Assembly increasing its limits from four to 18 square miles. This almost doubled Greensboro’s population
and this is how “Greater Greensboro” became the 3rd largest city in
North Carolina (Fripp). This history
has affected how the public feels about the government and in turn has
influenced the political culture.
According to Elazar, in the traditional political culture, social and
family ties are very prominent.
Greensboro is a city with many family oriented communities as well as
social opportunities. Even though
Greensboro is a very large city, community ties are still pretty close. In the traditional culture Elazar also says
that the government is generally seen as an actor with a positive role in the
community (Elazar).