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Do Americans care about politics?
- they have some interest, but not as much as the democratic ideal
- large percentages are uninformed about major political issues
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What do americans hold in common?
- proud of an emotionally attached to country
- positive image of countrys political, social, and economical institutions
- believe in the equality of all people
- proudest of the countrys committment to freedom
- Have a strong commitment to govt rule by consent of the majority
- committed to capitalism and free enterprise as idealized in the values of hard work, private property, economic competition, and profit
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Where do americans differ?
- they lean away from equality of result (reducing material inequalities)
- ---> some dont accept racial or sexual equality
- divided on their commitment to freedom of expression
- they dissagree on the limits that should be placed on right to vote and if minorities should be president
- divided over the concern about buisness practices and the degree to which buisnesses should be regulated
- Political Ideology
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What about political ideaology do americans differ?
- they dont think about politics in ideologically coherent terms
- essentially centrist, but american public opinion is shifting to the right (conservative)
- not familiar with basic definition of liberalism vs conservativism or have wrong ideas of what they mean
- they respond to political issues on an individual bases and respond at the level to which they are addressed
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What is political socialization?
- the process by which citizens internalize their own thinking, beliefs, feeling, ad evaluations about the political world
- important to stability and change in american politics
- a teaching or learning process
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What are the processes of political socialization?
- social learning theory
- transfer theory
- cognitive development theory
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What is the social learning theory?
learning through phsychological attachments or identifications
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What is the transfer learning theory?
carrying over attitudes developed in a narrower setting
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What is the cognitive deveolopment theory
learning dependent on the stage of an individuals mental development
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What is manifest socialization?
- specific teaching of beliefs
- ex: parents say something to teach children
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What is latent socialization
- subtle teaching through learning
- ex: children just copying what parents do
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What are the agents of political socialization?
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How is family an agent of socialization?
- they have first chance at political influence
- family influence on political attitudes is greatest when attitudes relate to topics regularly discussed
- political differences common between parents and children
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How is school an agent of socialization?
- primary source of information on politics
- school promotes feelings about social and political involvement through relationships and activities
- the effect of school is gradual and subtle
- rules enforced by authoritive figure
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How are peer groups an agent of socialization?
- peer groups: groups of people usually in equal social position, who interact w/ eachother
- social pressures on group members to behave can be strong
- Peer group pressures can have mixed results
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Explain the development of one's political self
- a kids first political thought is a psychological attachment with america and sense of authority personified in the president and police
- after exposed to school, kids conceptions of politics become less personal, more institutional, more realistic, and less to just the president, etc
- in early adulthood, individuals establish a political identity and are strongly affected by major political and social events
- during adulthood, political socialization evolves with changing needs concerns and environment of individual
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Explain diversity in socialization
- Subsocieties, mainly african americans, latinos, and asians, have exhibited distinctive political subcultures in america
- differences are fading but regions (ex: the south) have constituted distinctive political subcultures
- feminist movements changing how politically oriented women are
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What are motives for political participation?
- people with a strong sense of political efficacy (impact they feel they have on the govt) and duty are more involved in politics
- people with a strong party identification more likely to participate
- social motivations often lead to political participation
- sense of duty- a motivating factor felt by some citizens to get involved
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What are the forms of participation?
- campaigns and elections
- interest groups and political parties
- simply paying attention to politics
- contacting public officials through letters, personally, or petitions (most direct but less frequently done)
- protesting within or beyond the law
- the line between legitimate and illegitimate political protest can be hard to define
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What are Differences in Participation?
- Six Categories of citizen participation (Verba and Nie)
- since different kinds of people participate differently, public officials get different impressions of public opinion depending on which forms of participation they pay attention to
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What are the six categories of citizen participation?
inactives, voting specialists, parochial (narrow minded) participants, communalists (more interested in them than society as whole), campaigners, and complete activists
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What is the impact of political participation?
- the relationship between opinion and policy is relatively loose because many ppl dont know what they want, there are many publics, and there are many restraints on policy
- the relationship is likely to be strong only when there is a clearly expressed body of opinion on an important issue
- more participation=stronger relationship
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Explain the rationality of political participation
- according to the rational actor model, citizens weigh the cost against the benefits of participation
- the actual benefits of voting appear to be small, and therefore not rational
- parochial (narrow minded) participation, collective activities and political protest may be more effective and therefore more rational
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what is civil disobedience?
a deliberate violation of the law as a means of asserting the illegitimacy of the law or calling attention to a higher moral principle
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what is passive resistance?
protesters do not actively oppose government, but rather refuse to cooperate by doing nothing.
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Internal vs external efficacy?
- internal efficacy- the belief that one can understand and therefore participate in politics
- external efficacy- the belief that one is effective when participating and the govt will respond to their needs
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Public Opinion
- a combination of the views attitudes and ideas held by individuals in a community
- dynamic public opinion: fluctuates considerably in response to events
- some held intensley
- some casual preferences
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What is political ideology how do americans differ
americans often dont recognize terms liberalism and conservativism
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conservatism?
defense of the political and econonmic status quo of the govt. does not wanna change it. it holds that established customs, laws and traditions should guide socitey
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liberalism
- ideology that regards to the individual a a rational being capable of overcoming obstacles towards a better world
- supports changes in the political and economic status quo
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Contract theory
theory holding that the state gains its legitimacy from the consent of the govt and is formed to protect the rights of individuals to life, liberty and property
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what does ideology do
spells out what is valued and what is not
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Intergenerational transmission
transmission of values to the next generation
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Social self
something that helps you adapt to a certain society (such as learning a language) when born
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How is the social self made?
- starts at birth
- life long
- maturational
- age appropriate
- adaptational
- subjective to change
- culturally relative
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Resocialization
adapting to a new environment
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What are the powers of the national govt?
- enumerated (largest, power to run elections)
- implied
- inherent
- concurrent
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pre emping the field
federal govt takes over
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full faith and credit
the civil actions that occur in one state must be recognized in another
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Constitutional reasons why the national govt has grown
- power to tax and spend for the general welfare (enumerated power)
- power to regulate interstate commerce
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What are societal reasons why the govt has grown?
great depression
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How can the fed govt take state power?
giving them money for things
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What are political parties
- state oriented
- locally oriented
- constituency oriented (whos responsible for putting you where you are. usually family)
- individualistic
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What is presidential power
not the power to command but the power to persuade
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political efficacy
- the more education you have the more you are likely to participate in the political system
- the greater the sense that you can do somethin out ther
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how are events agents of socialization
- many different types: individual (just to you) society ( to everyone) etc
- affect your views depending on your age
- ex: 9/11 changed views
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Checks and balances
power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, so you have to divide power
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what are the branches of govt in checks and balances?
- legislative
- executive
- judiciary
- they get involved with eachother
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What is the legislative
- congress
- was supposed to be most important
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what is executive
- president
- became most important
- executive proposes, congress decides
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Are americans pragnatic or philosophical?
- pragnatic
- if theres a problem, do something about it
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What are the 3 structures of govt?
- Unitary System
- Confederation
- Federation/Federalism
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explain unitary system
- parliament decides who has political power and when
- govt has the ability to take political power away whenever they want
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