Chapter 7 Vocab: Political Participation: Activating the Popular Will

Question 1

Political participation

Answer 1

Involvement in activities intended to influence public policy and leadership, such as voting, joining political groups, contacting elected officials, demonstrating for political causes, and giving money to political candidates.

Question 2

Suffrage

Answer 2

The right to vote.

Question 3

Registration

Answer 3

The practice of placing citizens’ names of an official list of voters before they are eligible to exercise the right to vote.

Question 4

Apathy

Answer 4

A feeling of personal disinterest in or lack of concern.

Question 5

Alienation

Answer 5

A feeling of personal powerlessness that includes the notion that government does not care about the opinions of people like oneself.

Question 6

Civic duty

Answer 6

The belief of an individual that civic and political participation is a responsibility of citizenship.

Question 7

Political interest

Answer 7

The level of interest that a citizen has in politics; political interest is a prime determinant of whether a citizen will pay attention to politics and participate through voting.

Question 8

Social capital

Answer 8

The sum of the face-to-face interactions among citizens in a society.

Question 9

Political movements

Answer 9

Also called social movements, active and sustained efforts to achieve social and political change by groups of people who feel that government has not been properly responsive to their concerns.