Study Guide 1 ch. 6
Why are critics of the power of the Internet as a tool to promote political change skeptical of its power? Are the critics right? What can done to enable the Internet to be a more effective organizing tool?
1st There is a risk of centralized power.2nd)Researching or following a specific topic often involves wading through a forest of posts by authors with difficult to verify credentials, contradictory accounts, and deliberate misinformation. one term for this is Din: The sheer volume of information and noise generated by online sources. It can be a disincentive to participate politically.3rd and worst Internet incubates lies, malice, and falsehood. Roomers start and spread. Racism anti-Semitic, misogyny, and character assassination all flourish in the hyper connected often anonymous new media.
What does the 1936 Literary Digest poll and the 2016 presidential polling have in common?
Both were wrong about who would win the presidential election.
Discuss the notion of "Lies, Damn Lies, and Polls". Discuss the difference between a "push poll" and a scientific survey. Compare the bandwagon and boomerang effects relating to opinion polling.
Campaigns and advocacy groups often want to skew their survey results & use framing effects to their advantage. Some polls go even further and actually try to influence respondents views. These efforts do not even pretend to be legitimate attempt to measure opinions are termed push polls. These "polls" are essentially a form of negative telemarketing: they have more impact on unsuspecting respondents because they are campaign advertisements masquerading as scientific surveys. A scientific survey has accounted for Sample size, framing effect, & margin of error *The Bandwagon effect:When people join a cause because it seems popular or support a candidate who is leading in the pols. *The boomerang effect: The discrepancy between candidates high poll ratings & election performance, caused by supporters assumption that an easy win means they need not turn out.
Discuss the three categories of participatory practices as referred to by political scientists - traditional participation, civic voluntarism, direct action. Offer examples. Do any appeal more or less to you?
Engaging in politics through the formal channels of government and society. Civic voluntarism: Citizen participation in public life without government incentives or coercion speaking at a town meeting vs. paying taxes, for example. Participating outside of normal political and social channels through civil disobedience demonstration, and even riots. speaking at a town meeting would be fine.
Discuss the factors affecting Political Socialization. Do you agree with Morone and Kersh's assertions of the influences that affect how one thinks politically?
Family, friends, education, gender,race, & what you have experienced. That is how we can guess where you stand politically.
What factors inspire Americans to participate in political activity? What discourages political participation - discuss institutional barriers and offer examples. What factors have inspired or discouraged you to get involved?
First, their personal background- especially age, wealth, and education; second, the influence of family members or close friends; third, the kind of community that surrounds them;fourth mobilization efforts by advocating groups and political parties;and perhaps surprisingly fifth receiving benefits from the government. What discourages political participation? 1)Elections being held on Tuesdays when people work.2)The US hold more frequent elections-national, state & local. 3)the US also holds primary elections, which are staggered throughout the year in different states. 4)registering to vote can be burdensome & complicated. To put it bluntly, some states try to discourage some voters. 4 main reasons people do not participate in political life: alienation, barriers to participation, complacency, & shifting mobilization patterns.
What three conditions must be met for public opinion to guide government? What issues affect an item getting on the agenda?
However if public opinion is to guide government three conditions must be met. 1)The people know what they want and guide government discussions. 2)The public can clearly communicate its desires to political leaders. 3)Political leaders pay attention to public views and respond. Survey research or scientific measure of popular opinion. Approval rating. Policy agenda. Although collective public opinion holds some sway, the opinions of some groups matter more than others.
Discuss the similarities and differences between Surowiecki's perspective in The Wisdom of Crowds and the concept of groupthink. Discuss situations that might exhibit this..
Surowiecki's perspective in his book The Wisdom of Crowds. Even if any individual does not have clear views, argued Surowiecki, a Large Crowd, taken together, adds up to a rational public. In fact, a random collection of people, he continued, is actually wiser than a group of experts when it comes to devising the best solution to policy dilemma. vs Experts, on the other hand, are typically trained in similar ways and are subject to Groupthink: They tend to reinforce one anthers existing prejudices. ex cows weight at the fair experts were off on the weight public was only 1 lb off. The optimistic view about the wisdom of the crowd restores traditional hopes about self-rule.
How does survey research and polling lend itself to guiding government? How does public opinion relate to the agenda?
Survey research is a Systematic study of a defined population, analyzing a representative samples vies to draw inferences about the larger public's views. Also termed opinion poll it offers a snapshot of public opinion. Polls matter most in setting the policy agenda. Public opinion helps shape which topics governing officials pay attention to in the first place. public opinion. All government officials constantly have to weigh doing what they think is best against doing what the public desires. Popular views can help set governing agendas.
Where is the line between traditional and direct action? Discuss the similarities/differences between direct action and civil disobedience.
Traditional Participation means engaging in politics through the formal channels of government organized by federal and state constitutions and developed over time. voting,working for a candidate, signing petitions, or writing letters are all ways of getting active.Voting is the Most Important aspect of Political Participation in the US. When people feel traditional forms of participation are not working they sometimes seek change outside of normal channels and take direct action. ex. demonstrations, marches, armed standoffs, and riots. Occasionally direct action goes further and violates the law-sometimes through proud acts of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE- Protesting laws one considers unjust by refusing to obey them & accepting the punishment. The line between traditional participation and direct action can easily blur. Recall that the first amendment guarantees the right to assemble- although local authorities normally require a permit before people can march in the street. We label all marches and demonstrations "direct action"-whether the protesters have a permit making their assembly legal or not turning it into civil disobedience.
Describe the two competing perspectives on the importance of public opinion in a democracy and include a discussion on the merits of Walter Lippmann's 1922 commentary that "The masses are asses" vs arguments for the "public is rational". Make reference to the importance of publications such as - The American Voter and The Rational Public.
Walter Lippmann's said The Masses are Asses in his book public opinion. He believed the typical American was distracted y celebrities and minor scandals, rarely followed policy issues closely enough to understand the details, and yet readily offered up personal views on any topic Paying attention to uninformed masses was no way to run a country. he also believed that governing involved technical decisions that were best left to well trained experts. vs. Arguments for the "public is rational". THE AMERICAN VOTER used careful data analysis & came to the same conclusion as Lippmann had:Americans are politically ignorant, they do not even offer logically consistent answers during a survey. vs. The Rational Public: The authors, Benjamin Page & Robert Shapiro, recognized that yes, most voters were generally inattentive to policy issues & uninformed abut political details. However, measured across large groups of people, public opinion moves in coherent, stable ways that signal shared views about policy issues. Most of us use information shortcuts-cues about candidates & policies drawn from everyday life. to arrive at reasonable judgments ab out politics & government. These shortcuts are often derived from our direct personal experience. Citizens notice impacts of policy outcomes on their daily lives, as they make everyday evaluations on things like interest rates for loans grocery prices. etc.
What conditions must be met for a poll to be considered reliable and valid? Discuss the importance of: the random sample, sample size, timing of a poll, framing effects, margin of error.
You must reflect the population which means they must very in age, income, race, or ethnic group, gender & many other factors so that they reflect the population that will vote. Random sample is important because it is important to get the opinions of all different kinds of people or the information will be biased.A large sample size is important for the same reason. Your timing is important the wrong timing can give you only skewed results of only certain types of people for example people who are home on a Friday night may be older. Be very careful how you word the question. You may present it in a way that could bias the persons answer. sampling error declines with large sample sizes.