I think you are discussing an issue of methods and perspective. Political science shows a growing interests in culture, cognition and behaviour. Maybe that's not the approach you like, but the substantive focus is there.
I am a political scientist who is interested in 'culture' and I wish more of my colleagues were on the same page.
In the top depts/journals there is definitely interest in cognition, but from the cognitive science/psychology perspective. And because it's political science, politics (esp voting, govt, policy) is going to be the DV, so that's another limitation on how you approach culture. But it's often that way with any discipline and its center of gravity.
For people applying, take a look at the top journals, recent award winning books, that should give you a sense of things.