Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
72 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Political Culture
|
a set of widely shared belief, values, and norms concerning the ways that political and economic life ought to be carried out. It defines the relationship of citizens to government, to one another, and to the economy.
Each country has a unique political culture (some may share beliefs however) |
|
|
Conflictual political culture
|
one in which different groups clash with opposing bliefs and values
|
|
|
consensual political culture
|
experiences less conflict
|
|
|
American political culture
|
consensual because we have a broad based of shared political values. Most of our conflicts occur because we disagree on how these values should be implemented, not on the basic beliefs themselves
|
|
|
Alexis de Tocqueville
|
an early observer of american political culture. He came to united states to investigate why the american democracy seemed to be so successful. He recorded his obervations in Democracy in America
|
|
|
"Democracy in America" and its factors
|
a book that remains today a classic study of american poltical values. (written by de Tocqueville). In it he identified factors he blieved to be critical in shaping america's sucessful democracy
1) abundant and fertile land 2) countless opportunities for people to acquire land and make a living 3) lack of feudal aristocracy 4) an independent spirit encouraged by frontier living these factors shaped our basic values of liberty individualism, equal opportunity, democracy, rule of law, and civic duty |
|
|
Core valutes that have shaped the political culture
|
liberty
equality individualism democracy rule of law civic duty |
|
|
liberty
|
imspired by american revolution. sited by john locked and later by thomas jefferson
|
|
|
equality
|
refered to by thomas jefferson
basic value in declaration of independance most american dont blieve that everyone is equal but they believe in equal opportunity and equal treatment |
|
|
individualism
|
the importance of dignity of the individual (have both rights and reponsibilities)
|
|
|
Rugged Individualism
|
belif that individuals are responsible for their own well-being and that the strength of our system lies in the ability of individuals to be left alone to copete for sucess.
associated with the belief in common sense of people |
|
|
democracy
|
americans believed that gov should be based on consent of the governed.
-majority rule -rights of the minority as well |
|
|
rule of law
|
gov is based on a body of law applied equally
opposition to rule by individual -aka dictator |
|
|
civic duty
|
althought community is not as strong in modern day, most americans believe that they ought to be involved in local affairs
|
|
|
Americans tend to be...
|
nationalistic, optimistic, idealistic
|
|
|
robber barons
|
entreprneurs (people who have the majority of wealth... wealth lies in the hands of few ppl)
|
|
|
Capitalism
|
wealth based on money and other capital goods (before it was based on ownership) (reinforced the emphasis on individualism)
|
|
|
Free enterprise
|
economic competition without restraint of government (reinforced the emphasis on individualism)
|
|
|
Preamble of constitution
|
states that "promotion o the general welfare" is a major purpose of the government
|
|
|
Second Bill of Rights
|
Roosevelts 1944 inaugural address. it reflects his commitment to "economic security and independence"
He believed everyone had the right to job, food, clothing, home, medical care, and education. |
|
|
Political Tolerence
|
deomcracy depends on citizens being tolerant of the opinions and actions of others.
|
|
|
poltical tolerance complexity
|
-most americans agree with freedom of speech, religion, and right to petition
-people are not as poltical tolerent as they proclaim themselves to be -americans are willing many people with whom they disagree to do a great deal poltically -ppl have become more tolerent -most ppl displike another strongly enough to deny certain poltical rights -ppl are not always inclind to act on poltical belifs |
|
|
Political efficacy
|
a citizens capacity to understand and influence poltical events. 2 parts: internal and external efficacy
|
|
|
internal efficacy
|
the ability to understand and take part in poltical affairs
|
|
|
external efficacy
|
the belief of the individual that government will respond to his or her personal needs or beliefs
|
|
|
Changes in efficacy
|
little change in internal efficacy
great change in external.. ex. during vietnam and watergate americans have a greater poltical efficacy than european nations americans are less likely to vote however but more likely to sign petitions, etc |
|
|
differences of oppion
|
americans blieve that united states is subject to unchanging standards (belief in god, laws of nature, united states is gerneral force of good
the opposite emphasizes the legitimate alternatives to these standards |
|
|
Public opinion
|
the distribution of individual attitudes about a particular issue, candidate or poltical instituion. it encompasses the attitudes of millions of diverse people from many backgrounds.
|
|
|
Measurement of public opppion
|
involves interviewing, etc
people are not well informed about issues |
|
|
George Gallup
|
developed public opinion polling
|
|
|
Representative sample
|
sample of those interviewed must be representive of the entire population.
|
|
|
random sampling
|
gives everyone in the population an equal probablity of being selected for interview.
|
|
|
Respondants knowledge
|
people must have soe knoledge of the issues they are asked about. (which ppl are often reluctant to admit a lack of knowldge about)
|
|
|
Care and objective wording
|
the structure and wording of the question is very imprant for an accurate response. emotional words are not use and the polster doesnt indicate the "right" answer. categories also determine the results
|
|
|
Cost efficiency vs acuracy
|
all polls have a budget but accuracy shouldnt suffer as a result. straw interviews: asks television views to call is not expensive but not accurate.
|
|
|
Variances between sampling
|
the same poll conducted with a different random sample will have slightly different result. this is known as sampling errors (usually has a 3% error margin)
|
|
|
Political socialization
|
these are what shape political attitudes. it is a lifelong process through which an individual acquires opinions through contact with family, friends, coworkers, and other group associations. Media also plays a role in this.
4 factors: family, gender, religion, education, social class, race and thenicity, and region |
|
|
Family
|
the most imporant source of poltical socialization
majority of young ppl identify with parents poltical party. however, this number is lower than the past (having to do with becomeing independants) |
|
|
gender
|
-more woman consider sexual harassment in the workplace a serious problem
-men tend to support military actions and spending in foreign affairs -party identification (has shifted some) Since the 1960's woman have tended to vote democrat (gender gap). modern woman's rights movement and democracts tendency to support points of view woman support (ie equal opportuity, abortion rights, wlefare programs) however defense issues sway some to republicans |
|
|
Married Vs Unmarried
|
gender gap is not so significant between married and unmarried voters. (small differences) singles more likely to support democrats and married to support republicans
|
|
|
religion
|
-protestants are more conservatice on econmic matters (such as min wage and taxes) tahn catholics and jews
-jews tend to be more liberal economically and sociall than catholics/protestants -catholics tend to be more liberal on econic issues than they are social issues -fundamentalist christsians tend to support repub.. they have stronger attitudes about social issues than foreign affairs |
|
|
education
|
-higher education, the more liely they are conservative
-college education influences individuals to have more liberal social and economic attitudes than before they started college -the longer and more pretigious, the more liberal they become (teachers are liberal) |
|
|
Social Class
|
before: high-conservative, low-liberal
today: not so clear due to college education and liberalism |
|
|
Race and ethnicity
|
-black americans: tend to identify with the democractic party (liberal)
hispanic: tend to be more liberal Asian AMericans: more conservative. althought, this varies in nationalities |
|
|
"the issues"
healthcare |
liberals: health care should be more avaible and not tied to work (national health care system)
conservatives: best handled by private insurance companies and tied to work place |
|
|
crime
|
liberals: cure the economic and social reasons for crim
conservatives: stopcoddling criminals and punish them for their crimes |
|
|
business regulation
|
liberals: gov should regulate businessess in the public interest
conservative: buisnesses should be allowed to operate under free market conditions |
|
|
military spending
|
liberals: spend less
conservative: spend more |
|
|
taxes
|
liberals: the ruch should be taxed more; the gov is presonsible for reducing economic inequality
conservative: taxes should be kept low |
|
|
welfare state
|
liberals: gov is responsible for helping the poor find employment and relieving their misery
conservative: people are reponsible for their own well-being; welfare takes away the incentive to take care of themselves |
|
|
civil rights
|
liberals: support for pro-active civil rights gov policies
conservative: limited gov rle in promoting social equality |
|
|
abortion
|
liberal: prochoice
conservatives: pro-life |
|
|
religion
|
liberal: clear seperation of church and state
conservatives: support for faith-based political initiavies |
|
|
Neo-cons
|
started as post-cold war conservative movement. main goal is to counter global terrorism, (especially carried out by radical islamists).
-may be from either poltical party -tend to affilate repub -advocate breakup of golable terrorist networks |
|
|
Poltical participation
|
the various activies that citizens employ in their effort to influence policy making and the selection of leaders.
-national, state and local levels -Americans are more active in polticals but low voter turnout rates |
|
|
who participates has to do with
|
education, religious involvement, race and ethniticity, age, gender, and two party competition
|
|
|
education
|
high education- high involvement. well educated ppl better understand complex social issues
|
|
|
religious involvment
|
great involvment, greater participation.
|
|
|
race and ethnicity
|
whites have higher voting rates. this is deceptive however. education and income have a lot to do with this
|
|
|
age
|
18-24 yr olds are lowest in participation. 45 and above participate the most
|
|
|
two-party competition
|
extent to which elections are competitive in a state. more competiive generall brings higher turnouts
|
|
|
originally: voting
|
states determined qualifications
all states excluded woman, most denied blacks, and proerty ownership was required |
|
|
lifting of property restriction
|
1830's jackson.. most states lifted this to embrace "universal manhood sufferage" voting rights for all white males
|
|
|
15th amendment
|
blacks right to vote
|
|
|
jim crow laws
|
literacty tests, poll taxes, grandfather clause
prevented black s fromvoting until well past 20th century 1950's and 60's the supreme court declared jim crow laws unconstituional |
|
|
24th amendment
|
banned the use of poll tax
|
|
|
19th amendment
|
womans right to vote 1920
|
|
|
26th amendment
|
changed minimum voting age from 21 to 18 1971
|
|
|
measuring voter turnout
|
registered voters that vote and % of eligible voters that vote
|
|
|
Voter registration
|
-laws vary according to state
-all except north dekota require registration -moving states, forgot to register, or passed 18th birthday means that they are ineligable to vote for 6 months |
|
|
National Voter Registraction Act/ "Motor/votor bill"
|
allows ppl to register to vote while allpling for or renewing a diver's licence.
also required state to provite assistance to facilitar voter registraction cannot remove name from voter roles democrats mostly support this bill |
|
|
Other reasons for low voter turnouts
|
difficulty of absentee voting, number of officies to elect, weekday (non-holiday voting), weak poltical parties
|
