Abstract
Original study from the field of political theory reviews and critically analyzes basic approaches in political culture research in non-Czech, mainly Anglo-American political science and sociology. The analysis begins with the classical formulation by Almond and Verba from 1960's and advances towards various alternative conceptions laid forward by contemporary authors.
The analysis of these conceptions concentrates on the question what contents they attribute to political culture and how they can be used in accounting for some of the fundamental problems of politivcal science. These include stability and quality of democracy or the effects of long term processes of cultural change on political institutions and other dimensions of political life.