Dr. Crepaz was asked by Polity, a University of Chicago Press journal, to write an article as part of a symposium about Wiarda鈥檚 impact. 鈥淗e was a very influential academic, there鈥檚 no question about it.鈥� Crepaz鈥檚 article focuses specifically on Wiarda鈥檚 impact on the study of what is called neo-corporatism, which explores the relationships between labor, employer鈥檚 organizations, and the state in modern, industrialized democracies.

Wiarda conducted research by traveling to countries, interviewing a range of people such as politicians, journalists, taxi drivers and anybody else who was willing to answer his questions, and thus, attained a keen sense of the time and place of his research subjects. As Crepaz states, 鈥淲iarda was a researcher of the old school. However, his political culture perspective became eclipsed by a new approach that applied a more individualistic reasoning to the study of modern, industrialized democracies by the turn of the millennium.鈥� As a result, Wiarda鈥檚 inductive, qualitative approach to conducting social science with a strong emphasis on political culture research fell out of fashion and was replaced with a more deductive approach which relied much less on the rich tapestry of political culture and focused instead on a more parsimonious understanding of human behavior.

Crepaz鈥檚 article speaks to the changes in the field of comparative political economy and how that affected Wiarda鈥檚 work. However, it also discusses the more recent turn back to identity politics and illustrates that in a way, political culture actually still matters. Crepaz notes, 鈥淚f we are worrying more about which bathroom people can use, as opposed to what it takes for people to earn a living wage, then political culture is back on the map.鈥�

Crepaz sees the more recent turns toward identity politics as 鈥渁n expression of a renaissance of political culture.鈥� In that sense, Crepaz argues, Wiarda was right all along.

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