Unit One: Study Guide – Political Culture, Public Opinion and Political Participation

Date Due	Assignments
Tues., Aug. 18	Summer Assignment Due
Weds., Aug. 19	Work on HW for Thursday and Friday
Thurs., Aug. 20	1. Go to the Lesson Units page of my website and print out the article “How Divided Are We?” by James Q. Wilson. Read it. 2. In the readings book, read p. 541 – 548, “The Values Divide” by John White. Take good margin notes. 3. Be prepared to address the following topics in class: a. What is polarization? b. Using both articles, what is the evidence of an ideological division in America along the so-called red/blue divide? c. What explains the growth of polarization? d. How is this damaging to our political system?
Fri., Aug. 21	1. Read p. 79 – 99 2. Answer questions 1 -6 for Chapter Four. Note that you don’t have to write anything for two of those questions. When I say you can skim something, I mean it. You can also skip the “What would you do?” question on p. 98.
Mon., Aug. 24	1. Read p. 103 to 118 (skip the green box on p. 114-115) 2. Answer reading questions 1 – 4 for Chapter Five
Tues., Aug. 25	1. Read p. 114 – 115 on polling and summarize the five criteria for designing and interpreting surveys. 2. Read Michael Barone on polling and make notes in the margin or in your notes on the significant points. 3. Read “Dirty Little Secrets” and make notes in the margin or on paper on the significant points.
Weds., Aug. 26	1. Read “Politicians Don’t Pander” in the Readings book p. 401 - 407 and make notes in the margin or in your notes about the significant points. 2. Go to the Lesson Units page of my website and print out the exit polls from 2000-2008. Pretend you’re a pundit. Look at the Exit Poll results from 2000, 2004, and 2008 and write down ten conclusions that can be drawn from one, both, or all of the polls that indicate something interesting about the relative strength of the parties. (We probably won’t get to this until Thursday, but I wanted to balance out the assignments.)
Thurs., Aug. 27	1. Read p. 118 – 127 2. Answer questions 5 – 9 for Chapter Five
Fri., Aug. 28	1. Read p. 129 – 146 2. Answer questions 1 – 7 for Chapter Six
Mon., Aug. 31	1. Study Table 6.3 on p. 142 and be prepared to talk about it in class. 2. Start studying for test
Tues., Sept. 1	Study for the test
Weds., Sept. 2	Test

Use your own words to answer these questions. Please type and save the answers on your hard drive. When appropriate, you may answer with bullet points. Complete sentences aren’t necessary if you can make the point with phrases. Do NOT go overboard with your answers; you don’t need to recopy the book. Whenever possible, put the answers in your own words, even if your words are just a list of phrases that still address the questions. It helps to have the question with the answer. You can download the questions from the Lesson Units page of my website and then fill in your answers.

Reading Questions for Chapter Four

1. What are the elements that the book identifies with our political culture? What is the difference between a political culture and a political ideology?

2. What is the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of results?

3. Be familiar with the differences between American political culture and other countries’ political cultures? (When I say “be familiar” with something in a question – you don’t have to write anything, just understand the concepts. Of course, if you’re a perfectionist or a worry wart, feel free write notes.) Skim through the section on the “sources of Political Culture” and be familiar with what those sources are.

4. Summarize (you can use bullet points) what the book says about the “culture war” in America.

5. What is the difference between internal and external efficacy? Look at Figure 4.2 on p. 95 and decide if you agree or disagree with these statements.

6. As you read through the rest of the chapter, think about how you’d answer the questions asked in Figures 4.3 to 4.5.

Reading Questions for Chapter Five

1. What was the Founders’ attitude towards public opinion? Give examples of how we see that attitude reflected in how they wrote the Constitution.

2. Identify three problems in assessing public opinion.

3. The book gives four factors that affect political attitudes. Identify those four factors and summarize the conclusions about how those factors affect people’s political attitudes. Memorize this list.

4. The book discusses cleavages which may divide various demographic groups ideologically. The authors give three factors that divide people’s political beliefs. Identify those three factors and summarize the conclusions about the correlation between these factors and people’s political opinions. Memorize this.

5. What were the meanings of the words “liberal” and “conservative” in the 19^th century and how did these meanings change in the 20^th century?

6. Summarize the four ideological labels the authors describe on pp. 122-23. Feel free to use a chart or bullet points for your summary.

7 What are the two reasons the book gives why activists or the political elite tend to have more ideological consistency than those who aren’t active? What effect does this ideological consistency have on the difference ideologically between politicians and voters?

8 What does the term “new class” mean? What political ideology to those in the “new class” ascribe to? Why?

9. How do elites influence public opinion? What are the limits to their ability to shape public opinion?

Reading Questions for Chapter Six

1. Why does the book say that it is incorrect to say that Americans don’t vote as a result of apathy?

2. What did Congress pass to increase voter participation and what has been the result of that law?

3. How did states try to keep blacks from voting? Summarize those tactics and how they gradually were changed. Make sure you know what a literacy test, poll tax, grandfather clause, and the white primary were.

4. What political effects have there been since the Nineteenth and Twenty-sixth Amendments?

5. Summarize the arguments as to why voter turnout has declined. (a bullet –list is fine). Read carefully the green box on p. 137.

6. Make a list of the generalizations that the book makes (p. 138-9) about which groups tend to be more or less likely to vote. Memorize this list..

7. Summarize the five reasons the book gives for why Americans register and vote less frequently.

Identifications

You should be familiar with all these terms by the end of the unit.

1.	Political Culture	18.	Political Elite	35.	saliency
2.	Political Ideology	19.	New Class	36.	Help America Vote Act 2002
3.	Equality of Opportunity	20.	New Deal Coalition	37.	Motor-Voter Law (1993)
4.	Equality of Results	21.	random sample	39.	Fifteenth Amendment
5.	Civic duty	22.	sampling error	40.	literacy test
6.	progressive culture	23.	Weighting	41.	poll tax
7.	orthodox culture	24.	quota sample	42.	grandfather clause
8.	political efficacy	25.	focus groups	43.	white primary
9.	Middle America	26.	instant response polling	44.	Voting Rights Act (1965)
10.	Silent Majority	27.	push polls	45.	Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
11.	Social Status (socio-economic status, SES)	28.	bandwagon effect	46.	Voting Rights Act (1970) and (1982)
12.	Christian Coalition	29.	refusal rate	47.	Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971)
13.	Gender Gap	30.	exit polls	48.	Twenty-Third Amendment (1961)
14.	Liberal	31.	Tracking poll	49.	disfranchisement
15.	Conservative	32.	skewed question	50.	Australian ballot
16.	Libertarian	33.	context effect	51.	activist
17.	Populist	34.	question framing	52.	demographics