Compare And Contrast The Political Culture Of Texas And The Media

Political Culture in Texas and the media The growth of technology has resulted in the extended usage of various forms of media across the country and more importantly, the state of Texas. The media is now widely utilized as a principle outlet for elections and campaigns in an extensive number of categories and issues. As a result, media portrayals have challenged conventional assumptions about the political culture of Texas to a massive extent. The political culture of Texas can be described as being both Individualistic as well as Traditionalistic. In other words, Texas believes in the basic feature of individualistic values such as a strong belief in self-reliance, resistance to regulation, and a suspicion of public institutions. However,

To elaborate, on June 26, 2015, the US supreme court made gay marriage legal in all 50 states. As a state that is strongly fixed on both individualistic and more specifically, traditionalistic values, the platform of these political cultures in Texas were challenged through means of media. A culture that is based on traditional values strives away from changes and is resistant to accepting new laws, such as the legalization of same sex marriage. However, pop culture and widespread media shared amongst the citizens of the state of Texas, opened and shaped the debate over this issue. In fact, “scholars agree that the news media have become more attentive to and supportive of lesbian and gay rights over time.” (Chomsky, Barclay). Many factors are the cause of this challenge on political culture that is set by the media. To elaborate, an immense amount of support was declared by means of social media which proceeded to kick start the gay rights movement. As a result, the use of media was then utilized a coverage outlet that provided individuals in Texas insight into the issue that contrasted its political culture of traditionalism. Furthermore, the media projected a defiance in the beliefs of those who held traditional values in the state of Texas and were resistant to change. The use of media then continued to

Individualistic values in Texas support government activity only “to the extent that it creates opportunity for the individual achievement.” (Texas Political Culture). In other words, Texans are in favor of a limited state government and only encourage government activity when it is needed to create individual opportunities. The practice of an individualistic culture in Texas has created hostile views towards the state and federal government, and discourage their involvement in a number of