Unit 4 AP Gov Vocab

Political culture

A patterned and sustained way of thinking about how political and economic life ought to be carried out

Civic duty

A belief that one has an obligation to participate in civic and political affairs

Civic competence

A belief that one can affect government policies

Class-consciousness

A belief that one is a member of an economic group whose interests are opposed to people in other such groups

Orthodox

A belief that morality and religion ought to be of decisive importance

Progressive

A belief that personal freedom and solving social problems are more important than religion

Civic society

Voluntary action that makes cooperation easier

Public opinion

How people think or feel about particular things

Poll

A survey of public opinion

Random sampling

Method of selecting from a population in which each person has an equal probability of being selected

Sampling error

The difference between the results of random samples taken at the same time

Exit polls

Polls based on interviews conducted on election day with randomly selected voters

Question wording

The way in which survey questions are phrased, which influences how respondents answer them

Political socialization

Process by which one's family influences one's political views

Impressionable years hypothesis

Argument that political experiences during the teens and early 20s powerfully shape attitudes for the rest of the life cycle

Gender gap

Difference in political views between men and women

Partisanship

An individuals's identification with a party; whether they consider themselves a Democrat, Republican, or Independent

Party sorting

The alignment of partisanship and issue positions so that Democrats tend to take more liberal positions and Republicans tend to take more conservative ones

Political ideology

A more or less consistent set of beliefs about what policies government ought to pursue

Political elites

Persons with a disproportionate share of political power

Heuristics

Informational shortcuts used by voters to make a decision

Opinion leaders

individuals who exert direct or indirect social influence over others

Straw polls

unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinion on a variety of issues and policies

Ideology

a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

Radical

extreme

Liberal

open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values.

Moderate

Person whose views are between conservative and liberal and may include some of both ideologies

Conservative

A person who believes government power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom.

Reactionary

strongly opposed to change; conservative