Final Prep Flashcards
Poll Tax
A fee that had to be paid before a person could vote, it used to prevent black people from voting and not it’s unconstitutional.
Good-Character Test
A requirement that voting applicants wishing to vote produce two or more registered voters to vouch for their integrity.
Civil Rights
The constitutionally guaranteed rights that the government may not arbitrarily remove. Among these rights are the right to vote and equal protection under the law
Black Codes
Laws restricting the civil rights of african americans
De Jure Equality
Equality before the Law. This disallows legally mandated obstacles to equal treatment, such as laws that prevent people from voting, living where they want, or taking advantage of all the rights guaranteed to individuals by the laws of the federal, state and local governments
De Facto Equality
Equality of results, which means real world obstacles to equal treatment. For example: Do people actually live where they want? Do they work under similar conditions?
Gender Gap
A difference in the political opinions of men and women
Culture Theory
A theory that individual preferences “Emerged from social interaction in defending or opposing different ways of life”
Political Culture
A coherent way of viewing politics and government; ideological perspectives include beliefs about the military and the role of government, the proper relationship between government and the economy, and the value of social welfare programs. Also the relative importance for society of liberty and order.
Generational Effect
Socialization patterns in which a generation of adults who grew up during a certain decade or period appears to have its own outlook, differentiating themselves from previous ages.
Civil Disobedience
Breaking the law in a non-violent fashion and being willing to suffer the consequences, even to the point of going to jail, in order to demonstrate that the law is unjust.
Literacy Test
A requirement that voting applicants had to demonstrate an understanding of national and state constitutions. Primarily used to prevent African Americans from voting.
Political Violence
Violent action motivated primarily by political aims and intended to have a political impact
Protest
Expression of dissatisfaction; may take the form of demonstrations, letters to the news papers or public officials, or simple “opting out” of the system by failing to vote or participate in any other way
Retrospective Voting
A powerful form of issue voting in which voters look back over the past term or two to judge how well an incumbent or “the in party” has performed in office
Muckraking
A word used to describe a style of investigative reporting that has uncovered many scandals and abuses
Socialization
The process by which people learn to conform to societies norms and values
Fairness doctrine
A policy, now abandoned that radio and television stations had to provide time to all sides in areas of public interest
Affirmative Action
Programs that attempt to improve the chances of minority applicants for jobs, housing, or schools by giving them a boost relative to white applicants with similar qualifications
Desegregation
The elimination of laws and practices that mandate racial segregation
Heightened Scrutiny Test
A middle level standard that would force the state to prove more than just reasonableness of a law, though not its compelling nature, in order to justify it. For women’s rights, this means proving the importance of the goals and linking that to the wording of the law.
Jim Crow Laws
Laws passed by southern states that separated the races in public places. Railroads, schools, cemeteries
Sit-in
A protest in which people refuse to leave an area
Unfair Discrimination
Unequal treatment based on race, ethnicity, or gender and other distinctions
Public Agenda
The set of topics that concurs policy elites, the general public, or both
Public Policies
The Decisions, actions, and commitments of government
Formal Agenda
The policies actually schedules for debate and potential adoption by congress, the president, the supreme court, or executive departments and agencies
Suffrage
the right to vote
Total Incorporation
An approach arguing that the protections of the Bill of Rights were so fundamental that all of them should be applied to states by absorbing them into the due process clause of the 14th amendment
Policy Evaluation
The required period of monitoring and analysis of federal policies following their implementation
Means Testing
The changing of eligibility for entitlement benefits from everyone receiving benefits to only those with earnings and savings below a predetermined level, in an attempt to save money.
Latency
In public opinion and unspoken feelings, suggesting the potential for an attitude or behavior, but only when the right circumstances occur.
Integration
Government efforts to balance the racial composition in schools and public places
Issue Advocacy
The process of campaigning to persuade the public to take up a position on an issue
Hate Speech
Speech or symbolic actions intended to inflict emotional distress, to defame, or intimidate folks
Boycott
Refusal to patronize any organization that practices policies perceived as politically, economically, or ideologically unfair.
Double Jeopardy
Trying a defendant twice for the same crime; banned by the fifth amendment
Fighting Words
Certain expressions so volatile that they are determined to incite injury and are therefore not protected under the first amendment
Exclusionary Rule
rule whereby evidence gathered by illegal means and any other evidence gathered as a result, cannot be used in later trials.
Excise Tax
Charges on the sale or manufacture of products such as cigarets and alcohol and gasoline
Sampling Bias
A bias in a survey whereby a particular set of people in the population at large is more or less likely to appear in a final sample
Salience
In public opinion, the extent to which people see an issue as having a clear impact on their own lives
Tariffs
The imposition of import taxes on foreign goods in an attempt to protect a nations industry and or labor
Symbolic Speech
Some Actions, such as burning the american flag, that take the place of speech because they communicate a message
Straight-party tickets
Ballots on which people vote for only one party
State action
Actions taken by state officials or sanctioned by state law
Split-Ticket Ballots
Ballots on which people vote for candidates for more than one party
Social Welfare Policy
Policy that uses positive incentives (cash assistance, stipends, entitlements, grants) to promote or encourage social and economic fairness
Sexism
Prejudice against female gender
Schemas
Intellectual frameworks for evaluating the world
Representative Sample
A sample that includes all the significant characteristics of the total population
National Debt
The cumulative total of all budget deficits
