Category “electoral culture”

Abstract

The article reveals the content of the category “electoral culture ” and the subordination between this concept and the category “political culture”. The authors describe the discrepancies between “electoral culture”: “culture of political elections”, “culture of voters”, “culture of electoral process”. Electoral culture is an important part ofpolitical culture that separates it with the passing of time, when political elections as a procedure gain the necessary weight. It is noted that during the conduct of election campaigns the meaning field ofpolitical culture is narrowed to its effective fragment - electoral culture. The article reveals the influence of electoral culture on the national political process. Authors define electoral culture as a set of typical, relatively consistent knowledge, representations, guides, beliefs, values, symbols, orientations, skills and patterns of behavior manifested in the electoral process and transmittedfrom generation to generation of a particular nation, having significant transformational potential and appearing in the activities of electoral subjects and in the functioning of democratic institutions.