Unit 3 Vocab

Question 1

Demography

Answer 1

The study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of disease, which illustrate the changing structure of human populations

Question 2

Census

Answer 2

An official count or survey of a population

Question 3

Melting pot

Answer 3

Metaphor for a heterogenous society becoming more homogenous

Question 4

Minority majority

Answer 4

A subdivision in which one or more racial and/or ethnic minorities make up a majority of the local population

Question 5

Political culture

Answer 5

How culture impacts politics

Question 6

Reapportionment

Answer 6

Redistribution of seats in the US House of Representatives based on the changing of population

Question 7

Political socialization

Answer 7

The process by which individuals learn and frequently internalize a political lens framing their perceptions of how power is arranged and how the world around them is organized

Question 8

Sample

Answer 8

A small part of quantity intended to show what the whole is like

Question 9

Random sampling

Answer 9

A part of the sampling technique in which each sample has an equal probability of being chosen

Question 10

Sampling error

Answer 10

An error in a statistical analysis arising from the unrepresentativeness of the sample taken

Question 11

Random-digit dialing

Answer 11

A method for selecting people for involvement in telephone statistical surveys by generating telephone numbers at random

Question 12

Exit poll

Answer 12

A poll of people leaving a polling place, asking how they voted

Question 13

Political ideology

Answer 13

A certain set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order

Question 14

Gender gap

Answer 14

The discrepancy in opportunities, status, attitudes, etc., between men and women

Question 15

Political participation

Answer 15

Citizens’ activities affecting politics

Question 16

Conventional participation

Answer 16

Includes voting, volunteering for a political campaign, making a campaign donation, belonging to activist groups, and serving in public office

Question 17

Unconventional participation

Answer 17

Activities that are legal but often considered inappropriate

Question 18

Protest

Answer 18

A statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something

Question 19

Civil disobedience

Answer 19

The refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest

Question 20

Suffrage

Answer 20

The right to vote in political elections

Question 21

15th amendment

Answer 21

Prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

Question 22

Poll taxes

Answer 22

A tax levied on every adult, without reference to income or resources

Question 23

White primary

Answer 23

Primary elections held in the southern US in which only white voters were permitted to participate

Question 24

Voting rights act of 1965

Answer 24

Prohibits racial discrimination in voting

Question 25

19th Amendment

Answer 25

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Question 26

Political Efficiency

Answer 26

the citizens’ faith and trust in government and their belief that they can understand and influence political affairs

Question 27

Civic Duty

Answer 27

a responsibility expected from all members of a society

Question 28

Voter Registration

Answer 28

is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote must register (or enroll) on an electoral roll

Question 29

Motor voter act

Answer 29

Passed in 1993, this act went into effect for the 1996 election. It requires states to permit people to register to vote at the same time they apply for their driver’s license.

Question 30

Mandate theory of elections

Answer 30

The idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists do

Question 31

Policy Voting

Answer 31

Electoral choices that are made on basis of the voters’ policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues.

Question 32

Interest group

Answer 32

a group of people that seeks to influence public policy on the basis of a particular common interest or concern.

Question 33

Pluralism

Answer 33

a theory of government and politics emphasizing that many groups compete and counterbalance one another in the political marketplace

Question 34

Elitism

Answer 34

a theory of government and politics contending that an upper-class elite will hold most of the power and thus in effect run the government

Question 35

Hyperpluralism

Answer 35

a theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that the government is weakened by them

Question 36

Iron triangles

Answer 36

subgovernments are composed of interest group leaders interested in a particular policy, the government agency in charge of administering the policy, and the members of congressional committees and subcommittees handling that policy; they exercise a great deal of control over specific policies

Question 37

Potential groups

Answer 37

all the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest

Question 38

Actual groups

Answer 38

the people in the potential group who actually join

Question 39

Collective good

Answer 39

something of value that cannot be withheld from a potential group member

Question 40

Free-rider problem

Answer 40

for a group, the problem of people not joining because they can benefit from the group’s activities without doing so

Question 41

Selective benefits

Answer 41

goods that a group can restrict to those who actually join

Question 42

Single-issue groups

Answer 42

groups that have a narrow interest, tend to dislike compromise, and often draw membership from people new to politics

Question 43

Lobbying

Answer 43

a communication by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf, directed to a governmental decision maker with the hope of influencing his or her decisions

Question 44

Electioneering

Answer 44

direct group involvement in the electoral process, for example, by helping to fund campaigns, getting members to work for candidates, and forming political action committees

Question 45

Political action committees(PAC)

Answer 45

funding vehicles created by the 1974 campaign finance reforms. An interest group can create a PAC and register it with the FEC which will monitor the PACs expenditures

Question 46

Union shop

Answer 46

a provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join the union within a short period and to remain as a condition of employment

Question 47

Right-to-work laws

Answer 47

a state law forbidding requirements that workers must join a union to hold their jobs. Specifically permitted by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

Question 48

Public Interest groups

Answer 48

organizations that seek a collective good, the achievement of which will not selectively and materially benefit the membership or activists of the organization