We the People Exam 2 Study Guide Flashcards
Chapter 6
What are attitudes?
Values?
How do they relate to each other?
Attitudes are views about particular, issues, persons, or events. Some Attiudes can short-lived and can change based on circumstances or new information or others change over a few years or some may not change at all.
Values make up a person’s basic orientation to politics and include guiding principles. They are not limited to the politics. Values are morals that people belive in
most attitudes are based upon peoples values. Attitudes are specific judgments toward an object, while values are abstract and trans-situational.
Chapter 6
What sorts of things influence public opinions? (e.g., race, education, religion, income, gender)
political differences between Republicans and Democrats, rural and urban residents, Black people and White people, Hispanics and non-Hispanics, women and men, young and old people, more versus less educated people, people of different religions, wealthy or not so wealthy
What is linked fate?
“The idea that an opportunity for one, is an opportunity for all.”
a concept traditionally used to describe when members of an identity group (African Americans, for example) elevate group interests above their own individual interests.
Affective polarization?
Negative polarization?
Affective polarization is the tendency for partisans to dislike and distrust those from the other party
Negative polarization is tendency to support a political party or candidate based primarily on dislike for the “other side
Chapter 6
Public opinion
( Be familiar with basic concepts related to public opinion polls)
to the collective attitudes or opinions that people have about policy issues, political events, and elected officials.
Understanding public opinion is critical to understanding American politics.
Social desirability bias
respondents report what they think is socially acceptable instead of what they actually believe in or known to be true
The bandwagon effect
shift in electoral support to the candidate whom public opinion polls report as the front runner
Public broadcasting
What are whistle-blowers?
Public broadcasting refers to television, radio, and digital media that receive partial funding from license fees and government subsidies.
In most countries public broadcasting plays a major role informing the public about politics and currents like BBC.
In USA like National Public Radio(NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service(PBS) play a small role in the nations media and receives very little funding from the government.
Whistle-blowers are lower levels officials who hope to publicize what they view as their bosses’ or the governments’ improper activities.
Ex: In 1971, during the controversial Vietnam War, Daniel Ellsberg , a defense department staffer, sought to discreet official justifications for American’s military involvement in Vietnam by leaking top-secret document to the press.
Citizen journalism?
Adversarial journalism?
Principled journalism?
Citizen journalism includes news reporting and political commentary by ordinary citizens and bystanders, advocacy groups, and even crisis coverage from eyewitnesses on the scene, thus involving a wider range of voices in gathering news and interpreting political events.
Adversarial Journalism is a form of watchdog reporting in which the media adopt a skeptical or even hostile posture toward the government and public officials.
Principled journalism involves being as accurate as possible, relying on original sources whenever possible, being transparent about citing sources, and presenting multiple viewpoints. Reporting news without bias and it remains a journalistic ideal.
Agenda setting?
Priming?
Framing?
Agenda setting is the media’s designation some issues, events, or people as important, and others not. The mass media act as a gatekeeper with the power to bring public attention to particular issues or problems.
Priming is the process of calling attention to some issues, and not others, when reporting on political events and officials. Through priming media have the power to alter how voter make choices. Media priming can occur when a n issue become important in evaluating political candidates.
The process of presenting information from a certain perspective to shape the audience’s understanding of that information is called framing. Because media have the power to excluded or include information, they can influence how events, issues, and people’s actions are interpreted and understood.
What were the Fireside Chats?
Roosevelt called his radio talks about issues of public concern “Fireside Chats.” Informal and relaxed, the talks made Americans feel as if President Roosevelt was talking directly to them.
Suffrage
the right to vote
The main effect of the Voting Rights Act?
The 26th Amendment?
It made black people able to vote.
It lowered the age to vote from 21 to 18. This due to Vietnam War to channel the distributive student protests into peaceful participation at ballot.
Why are Voter ID laws controversial?
Recent adoption of voter ID laws in many states has reduced turnout rates, especially for racial and ethnic minorities and people with low income or disabilities—all of whom disproportionately lack government ID.
What is the main purpose of political parties?
Interest groups?
A political party seeks to control the government by nominating candidates, electing them to public office, and winning elections. Once in office, parties organize government lawmaking and seek to change government policy.
Interest groups do not seek to control the operation of government or win elections but, rather, try to influence specific policies, often by lobbying elected officials and contributing to political campaigns
The major political parties and the basic beliefs they hold
The Democratic and Republican parties are two broad coalitions strategically bringing together many diverse interests, organizations, and millions of Americans.
What divided the Democratic party’s coalition in the 1960s?
conflicts over civil rights caused divisions within the Democratic Party.
The movement for equal rights for Black people initially divided northern Democrats, who supported it, and White southern Democrats, who defended racial segregation.
Duverger’s Law
that there is a systematic relationship between electoral systems and party systems, so that plurality single-member district election systems tend to create two-party systems in the legislature, while proportional representation electoral systems generate multiparty systems.
What is “party identification?
an individual voter’s psychological ties to one party or another
What do modern Libertarians tend to believe about the role of government?
seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state’s encroachment on and violations of individual libertie
Selective Benefits of Interest Group Membership
- Informational benefits
- Material
- Solidary
- Purposive
- Informational :
Conferences, professional contacts, publications, coordination among organizations, research, legal hell, professional codes and collective bargaining - Material:
Travel package, insurance, discounts on consumer goods - Solidary:
Friendship, Networking opportunities - Purposive :
Advocacy, representation before government participation in public affairs
What are the different types of interest groups?
- Corporate Groups and Trade Associations
- Labor Groups
- Professional Associations : represent the interests of individuals who work in specific occupations.
Example - Physicians, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, dentists
4.Citizen Groups : are open to ordinary citizens and represent wide variety of interest, with groups on issues from the environment to abortion, to gun policy and to disability rights
What is the free rider problem?
Free riders are those who enjoy the benefits of collective goods but did not participate in acquiring or providing them
