Culture Matters explores the role of political culture studies as one of the major investigative fields in contemporary political science. Cultural theory was the focal point of the late Aaron Wildavsky's teaching and research for the last decade of his life, a life that profoundly affected many fields of political science, from the study of the presidency to public budgeting. In this volume, original essays prepared in Wildavsky's honor examine the areas of rational choice, institutions, theories of change, political risk, the environment, and practical politics.

Richard J Ellis

Foreword -- Preface: Remembering Aaron Wildavsky, the Cultural Theorist -- Introduction -- Rational Choice and Cultural Choice -- Social Science as Cultural Science, Rational Choice as Metaphysics -- Rational Choice and Culture: Clashing Perspectives or Complementary Modes of Analysis? -- Institutions and Culture -- A Cultural Theory of Organizations -- Cultures: Frameworks, Theories, and Models -- Cultural Theories of Change -- Political Culture and Political Change -- A Proposed Fragmentation of the Theory of Cultural Change -- Risk and Culture -- The Depoliticization of Risk -- What's Special About Cancer? -- Culture and the Environment: Empirical Studies -- Cultural Theory, Postmaterialism, and Environmental Attitudes -- Seeing Green: Cultural Biases and Environmental Preferences -- Cultural Theory and Practical Policies -- Applying Cultural Theories to Practical Problems -- Rewriting the Precepts of Policy Analysis