Political Culture’s Impact On Social Policies For The Elderly People

Political culture is the subjective element of a political system that underpins the political behavior of its members and acts on almost every aspect of our political life.Different political cultures have different influences on behaviors.Latin American countries have developed their own distinctive political cultures due to the differences in their process of development and have shown differences in their political behavior.Using political culture theory as a theoretical framework,this paper tries to characterize the political cultures of Argentina and Mexico from a macro perspective,categorizing the policies adopted by the two countries over the past three years for their elderly people,highlighting their differences and pointing out that it is the different political cultures of the two countries that have influenced differently the policies.This paper finds that Mexico’s political culture is characterized by authoritarianism,center-right tradition,Parochial Political Culture,and distinctly mestizaje identity,while Argentina’s political culture is dominated by pluralism,left-wing tradition,The Subject-Participant Culture,and immigrant identity.With the relevant official public data from government in both countries,this paper points out that the elderly people groups in both countries have similar characteristics,and both are facing physical and mental health impacts,as well as the declining of economic income and social mobility in the wake of the epidemic.The paper finds,however,that the two countries have adopted different approaches in the face of similar situations,focusing on four characteristics: different initiative actors,different priorities,different vision on social inclusion,and different emphasis on economic support.The paper argues that it is the difference between authoritarianism and pluralism that predicts differential motivations and actions;it is the difference between mestizaje and immigrant identities that influences the priorities of official works;it is the distinction between Parochial Political Culture and Subject-Participant Culture that results in different focus of care;and it is the difference in the vision of efficiency between the left and right wings that contributes to different economic support policies.The paper concludes that governments need to consider the characteristics of its own political culture to decide how to govern efficiently;and they also need to accept the feedback from political culture to continuously adjust their policies.