Political thinking / Political Culture. Ch1.

Which of the following were placed in the United States Constitution in order to prevent majority tyranny?

1. Bill of rights 2. Separation of powers 3. Checks and Balances

Which of the following are among the false beliefs that roughly 50 percent or more of Americans believed were actually true in recent years?

1. Crime has gone up in the past decade. 2. China owns more than half of US debt. 3. Social Security will go broke in my lifetime.

Critical thinking should involve

1. Evaluating information carefully. 2. putting forth considerable effort

Which of the following were periods with high levels of bipartisanship in American history?

1. George Washington's first years as president. 2. World War I. 3. World War II.

Which of the following correctly describes political culture?

1. It helps define citizens' relationship to each other. 2. It is derived from the country's traditions. 3. It helps define the relationship between citizens and their government.

Which of the following are true of legal action?

1. It involves use of the courts to assert rights and interests. 2. It is a channel through which ordinary Americans exercise power. 3. It involves the Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary, and firms attachment to private property.

Which of the following are tools that political science offers to increase one's ability to think critically?

1. Reliable information about how the US political system operates 2. terms and concepts that precisely describe aspects of politics 3. Systematic generalizations about major tendencies in american politics.

Which of the following statements are true of economic power in the United States?

1. Roughly two-thirds of all lobbyists in the nation's capital represent business firms. 2. Corporate power operates in part through the influence that firm have with government officials. 3. Firms have greater control over wages and working conditions than in other Western democracies.

How has our media system presented obstacles to critical thinking in recent history?

1. Some sources purposely hide contradictory information 2. Media consumers fail to question media sources. 3. Some sources invent information that suits their purpose.

Which of the following statements are true about the motivations for creating American government?

1. The American Revolution sought to create a radically different form of society. 2.The idea of individual potential could be achieved more easily in the New World than in the Old World. 3. Colonists, following Enlightenment ideas, wanted to overturn the European way of governing.

Which of the following accurately describe higher education in the US?

1. The US has the most elaborate system of higher education in the world. 2. The US ranks second only to Canada in the number of people over 25 with a college degree. 3. US states with the lowest proportion of college grads have more residents with a bachelor's degree than the typical European country.

If citizens do not develop the habit of critical thinking, what may result?

1. Their choices may not result in the outcome they expect. 2. They may invent odd versions of reality. 3. They may engage in wishful thinking.

Politics are necessary because

1. conflict in a society is inevitable. 2. people do not all think alike. 3. society's resources are limited.

Elements of Constitutionalism include

1. lawful restrictions of governmental power. 2. officials being required to follow the laws. 3. the protection of individual rights.

In the democratic system of the united states, which of the following are bestowed with legal authority to exercise power?

1. the president 2. members of congress 3. judges

Under an authoritarian government,

1. the regime is usually backed by the military or police. 2. political oppositions is openly repressed. 3. opposition leaders are sometimes brutalized or imprisoned.

Which of the following statements are true about American ideals and government?

1.Americans generally believe that government power should be widely shared. 2. Americans believe that their government should have a high purpose.

In what year was discrimination against Chinese, Japanese, and other asian immigrants finally removed from US immigration law?

1965

Slavery in America lasted for how many years?

250

According to sociologist C. Wright Mills, who or what has greater control over economic policy than even elected officials have?

Corporate elites

What does the text describe as "America's most elusive ideal"?

EQUALITY

Which is a commitment to personal initiative and self-sufficiency?

Equality

True or False: It is more dangerous for an electorate to be uninformed than misinformed.

False, it is more dangerous to be misinformed.

Which of the following statements about political institutions and interests in the united states is true?

Few nations have as many competing interests and institutions as the united States.

What is the principle that individuals should be free to act and think as they choose, provided they do not infringe on the freedoms of others?

Liberty

Which of these ideals encompasses the principle that the people are the ultimate source of government authority and should have a voice in their governing?

Self-government

Upon what assumption was Chinese Immigration to the US suspended in 1882?

The Chinese were an inferior people.

What document proclaimed that "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed"?

The Declaration of Independence

the term party polarization refers to

The situation resulting from the intense conflicts between republicans and democrats in recent years.

How are the media treated under an authoritarian government?

They are tightly controlled.

True or False: Americans turn to the courts to make rights claims more often than people elsewhere in the world

True

The "Two Americas" Referenced in the text are

White America and Black America.

An Economic system that operates mainly on private transactions where firms are free to make their own production, distribution and pricing decisions is known as

a free market system

Compared to other countries, Americans have pursued their individual rights

aggressively and in many areas.

Political culture in the US is based upon Americans'

allegiance to common goals.

As a discipline, political science relies upon _____, which requires critical thinking.

analysis

A single individual controls governance in which form of government?

autocracy

As political leaders have become more willing to make deceptive claims, the public has

become more tolerant the practice.

Americans' belief in self-government formed in

colonial america

Helga and Halla are sisters, and they vehemently disagree on politics. They both pay attention to evidence that only supports their beliefs. They've got a case of the

confirmation bias

Which of the following is a system based on rule of law, including legal protections for individuals empowering individuals by enabling them to claim their rights in court?

constitutional

Individualism in the US is best described as

deeply ingrained

A form of government in which the power to govern is in the hands of the citizens, either directly or through representatives

democracy

Which of the following is a system of majority rule through elections, empowering majorities, groups, and officials?

democratic

In what form of democracy (for example, the type that might be conducted through town meetings) citizens decide policy instead of depending on elected representatives?

direct

Omid only listens to conservative talk radio and watches Fox News, ignoring all News sources. Omid has immersed himself in an

echo chamber

The power exercised by well-positioned and highly influential individuals is known as

elitism

Which of the following reflects the notion that all individuals have the same moral worth and treatment under the law?

equality

Which of the following is an economic system that centers on the transactions between private parties?

free market

Under socialism as it is practiced today in Sweden and other countries, the government

guarantees its citizens a minimal standard of living.

the obstacles to critical thinking have ________ in recent years

increased

When political leaders respond to the policy desires of the majority, it is referred to as

majoritarianism

Compared to other countries, The US holds

more elections

An elite few hold the power to govern in which of these forms of government?

oligarchy

Which concept refers to the widely shared and deep-seated beliefs of a people about their politics?

political culture

Basic to politics is ____, which is needed to influence political developments

political power

The overall way in which society settles conflicts and allocates the resulting benefits and costs is called

politics

Who or what owns the means of production in a free market economic system?

private firms

The state of california barred individual of japanese descent from doing what?

purchasing property

The confirmation bias refers to the tendency to

reinterpret information in ways that reinforce what we already believe.

The tools of political science attempt to

sharpen students understanding of American politics

Compared to Americans who participated early opinion polls about public affairs, Americans today are

similarly uninformed

As practiced today, ___ is a system in which the government stresses economic equality and owns a few major industries

socialism

Pluralism asserts that, on most issues, the actors who exercise the most influence over government policy are

special interest groups

Who or what holds the power in a pluralist system?

special interests

At what point in American history did the influence of business firms on public policy become a defining feature of American politics?

the Late 1800s.

What best explains why european governments gave the American colonies a degree of self-determination?

the geographical distance that separated them was too great to do otherwise.

Democracy may free the mind, but who determines how that freedom will be used?

the individual

In a pluralist system, who or what would have the most influence on policies regarding regulation of internet service providers?

the providers themselves.

In America, Majoritarianism occurs mainly

through competition between the Republican and Democratic parties

A country's political culture derived from its

traditions

Concerning power sharing, the US is

unique

The best way to characterize political power in the US is that it is

widely shared