CIVIC CULTURE AND DEMOCRACY - THE QUESTION OF CAUSAL RELATIONSHIPS

A causal model of relationships between structural properties of state s, civic culture attitudes of the general public, and change in level of democracy is tested with cross-national data. The model permits inf erences about the possibility of unidirectional or reciprocal causatio n between civic culture attitudes and democracy, controlling for macro societal variables such as economic development, income inequality, an d subcultural pluralism. Most civic culture attitudes do not have any significant impact on change in democracy. One of them, interpersonal trust, appears clearly to be an effect rather than a cause of democrac y. The exception is the percentage of the general public that prefers gradual reform of society instead of revolutionary change or intransig ent defense of the status quo. Support for gradual reform has a positi ve impact on change in democracy, and it is unrelated to a country's y ears of continuous democracy-findings that support the hypothesis of a unidirectional civic culture effect on democracy.