ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF POLITICAL-CULTURE - RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND COUNTY POLITICAL-BEHAVIOR

This research uses religious affiliation data to represent Elazar's political culture typology and tests the power of that measure in accounting for political and policy variation among the 77 countries in Oklahoma. Although most Oklahoma counties are predominantly traditionalistic, a multiple regression analysis controlling for county socioeconomic environment and political attitudes yields the expected result: (1) a traditionalistic political culture tended to depress interparty competition and the "yes" vote on two key statewide referenda votes that reflected a substantial departure from customary moral practices (measures liberalizing liquor and gambling laws); (2) individualistic counties had higher voter turnout and more competitive parties; and (3) the more individualistic the county, the more likely it taxed and spent more and provided higher levels of support for various local public services. © 1991.