Political Science 101 (Exam #2 / Final)

Civil Rights

Definition - obligations by the federal government to protect citizens from any illegal state or private practices, and obligations that ensure equal protection and treatment under the law.

…

Significance - although we are treated equally in writing (14th and 15th amendments, 19th amendment, Civil Rights Act etc.), civil rights are constantly violated for different groups like African Americans and felons (police killings, arrests, harder to vote).

Reconstruction

Definition - the period after the Civil War specifically dedicated to reincorporating the confederate states and defining rights for former enslaved people. Defined rights for enslaved people!!

…

Significance - the biggest expansion of civil rights for former enslaved people (as well as Civil Rights Act of 1875 and the End with the Hayes-Tilden Compromise) Also led to 14 black members of Congress!

Grandfather Clause

Definition - a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. In the US context, it refers to constitutional amendments in Southern states that created new obstacles for voting unless your grandfather was eligible to vote.

…

Significance - Part of Jim Crow, a technically legal way to restrict voting (they did have the right to vote, but they, particularly men, had more difficulties to get through than white men like illiteracy and poll tags, and sadly women couldn't vote)

Hayes Tilden Compromise

Definition - Compromise that ended Reconstruction - Agreed that Hayes would be president and the federal government would remove troops from the south Southern states no longer a need of obligation of treating civil rights to African Americans due to the troops there

…

Significance - signaled the end of Reconstruction in the south as military oversight ended and northern Republicans dropped their support for civil rights/political participation for African Americans. (the end of Reconstruction)

Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964

Definition - Law prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin

…

Significance - the most important part of congressional legislation, shows congress in protecting these civil rights

Equality of Opportunity

Definition - equal treatment by the government, political equality in terms of vote importance and equal protection of rights by the federal government. The principle that all individuals should have an equal chance to succeed.

…

Significance - a widely shared American belief, fosters social justice and something that many aspire towards (though we are far from reaching it).

Equality of Results

Definition - individuals have similar or equal material wealth, living standards and life outcomes. If the outcomes are different, the system is unfair.

…

Significance - unlike equality of opportunity, this focuses on equity. Leads to debates on wealth distribution, and is one of the biggest racial disparities in the US.

Black Lives Matter Movement

Definition - A civil rights movement arguing it is the obligation of the federal government to ensure equal treatment and equal protection

• Focuses on issues like disproportionate stops by the police, disproportionate arrests by police, and disproportionate killings by the police and disproportionate incarceration rates of black people. Argue these issues amount to a violation of the civil rights of black people

Significance - it highlights a violation of equal treatment by states and localities and a violation of the equal protection obligations by the federal government, but has seen mixed results in terms of police accountability and funding.

Opinion

Definition - Summary of valenced or affective beliefs about an object, typically defined by its intensity, stability, salience and direction.

…

Significance - it is usually very difficult to change though change can happen with new information and exposure. They are also based on elite rhetoric which can affect our perception of the legitimacy of politics such as with the 2020 election.

Public

Definition - All adult members of a polity that are relevant to politics or government such as actors, institutions, policies, elections

…

Significance - the US is a representative democracy, so those elected as representatives (in the general sense) need to know the wants and needs of the public in order to stay in office. Also significant in terms of if we should expand the ‘public’ to include younger people such as those aged 16.

Public Opinion

Definition - the collective attitudes or opinions that people have about policy issues, political events, and elected officials.

• Preferences among adult members of a nation-state

Significance - contributes to the principal-agent problem, it typically explains which issues are defined as problems (and thus solved as policies) and which are ignored, and predicts public behavior (for example, spikes in anti-Asian rhetoric lead to a spike in hate crimes).

Action Pregnancy

Definition - Attitudes or opinions that are intense, informed, salient, and stable.

• We are likely to act on these attitudes or opinions.

Significance - action pregnant attitudes about presidential candidates lead to higher levels of voting turnout, media watching, merch buying, and events like protests and January 6th insurrection.

Principal Agent Problem

Definition - Occurs when a person or group (the "agent") hired to make decisions on behalf of another (the "principal") acts in their own self-interest rather than the principal's

• Public opinion is one way this can be done.

Significance - always the risk that the principal (the public)’s wishes do not get addressed by the agent (their representative/senator/president). Public opinion is always a way that agents gauge the majority viewpoint and determine whether to act.

Reception

Definition - being exposed to new messages/cues from elites, being attentive to receive these messages and having the political knowledge to comprehend and fully receive these messages.

…

Significance - the first step of the reception-acceptance model (you can write RAS model too) that determines what influences public opinion and how elite rhetoric can change the direction of public opinion.

Acceptance

Definition - after reception, whether or not we accept these new messages based on how they interact with prior beliefs, whether or not we trust the elites conveying the messages and how strong our prior beliefs are.

…

Significance - similar to reception, second step of reception-acceptance model. Can repeat the significance of reception.

Issue Publics

Definition - A segment of the population that has action pregnant attitudes/opinions on an issue (Informed, Ideological, Stable, Intense, Salient Opinions).

• These may be the people we rely on (free ride) for our information and trust on a particular topic

Significance - these are typically the elites, whose opinions the rest of us free ride from according to the reception-acceptance model.

Principle-Policy Paradox

Definition - The idea that people may support an idea or a principle in theory but that that support does not translate to their actual policy beliefs. (oppose the implication of the principles in reality)

• Example: Support for Principles of American Democracy Opposition to the Application of Principles.

Significance - highlights how inconsistent public opinion really is. Primary example is about racial equality - we support it in theory but many oppose policies that would help racial equality like affirmative action.

Participation

Definition - Political activities whose purpose is to influence the government.

• Can be conventional or unconventional. Includes both conventional ways (protests, petitions, meetings) and unconventional ways (terrorism).

Significance - cornerstone of democracy, though only a small % participate all the time with most people only participating in presidential election years, and even then turnout is never above 70%. Paradox of participation being a democratic principle but never embraced by the majority of Americans.

Rationality

Definition - weighing up the benefits and costs of a certain action to figure out the worth of doing that action like voting. (One way of understanding an individual's choice to or not to participate in politics. The equation PB > C means one will participate, if PB < C, one will not participate.)

…

Significance - used to explain low levels of turnouts at elections, as the costs of voting are significantly higher than the benefits of voting for many people since their vote is not important for presidential/congressional elections. Also explains free-riding at elections!

Material Benefits

Definition - the physical benefits of participation in politics (especially voting) - these include more money, more jobs if your candidate wins etc. (Benefits that have a tangible effect on one's life.)

• A lack of material benefits from voting is one potential explanation of low voter turnout in the US.

Significance - a significant motivator for why people vote, though some argue these still do not outweigh the costs of voting.

Solidarity benefits

Definition - These are social benefits one can receive from participation. Example: feeling part of a group as signaled by the ‘I voted’ sticker.

…

Significance - repeat from material benefits.

Purposive benefits

Definition - the psychological benefits of voting that one can receive from participation that make one feel good about themselves.

• These can be psychological benefits or feeling like you have done your civil duty

Significance - repeat from material benefits.

Duty

Definition - a moral or legal obligation as part of a democracy to do something such as participate in politics.

• One motive for why people participate in politics.

Significance - it motivates people to vote since they believe it’s their civic duty to participate in their representative democracy by voting.

Efficacy

Definition - the ability to produce a desired outcome through certain actions like voting. (Belief that individual political action matters and will have desired effect on government.)

• One motive for why people participate in politics.

Significance - another key motivator in why people vote even if it’s seen as irrational.

Same Day Registration

Definition - being able to register the same day that they go to vote, as well as a policy that allows people to register to vote on the same day that an election is taking place. In place in 22 states and Washington D.C.

• A lack of this policy is one institutional reason why voter turnout may be low.

Significance - increases turnout in those states significantly more than states without same day registration, and are frequently the states with highest turnout in every election. In 2020, voter turnout in same day registration states was 5% higher than states without same day registration.

PIE (Parties in the Electorate)

Definition - the extent or power of partisan loyalty in the electorate. How strong are our attachments to our parties?

…

Significance - it often functions as a shortcut for voting/politics by providing information about candidates and issue positions.

Single Member Plurality

Definition - Under single member plurality systems, an area is divided into a number of geographically defined voting districts, each represented by a single elected official. Voters cast a single vote for their district's representative, with the highest total vote-getter winning election, even if he or she has received less than half of the vote

• Explains low voter turnout

Significance - since the probability of someone’s vote mattering in a single member plurality is much lower than in a proportional representation system, it deters people from voting since they think their vote won’t matter.

Polarization

Definition - The divergence of vote choice and members of each party unified around their party’s positions with little crossover. (issues positions among people of different political parties)

…

Significance - has led to the two parties becoming increasingly ideologically distant from each other, impacts government activity and can result in legislative gridlock or even government shutdowns.

Affective Polarization

Definition - The tendency of people identifying as Republicans or Democrats to view opposing partisan negatively and co-partisans positively. Polarization is based on emotions (gut feeling), not ideology!

• Can manifest in stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination

Significance - manifests into stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination only driving partisans further apart from each other.

Third Parties

Definition - The parties that are not Republican or Democrat.

…

Significance - In a two-party system such as the US, it's incredibly difficult for third parties to gain any substantial electoral victories even though many people still want third options to exist.

Framing

Definition - the ability of the media to select a particular interpretation of an issue in order to gain support or opposition to a political issue or to blame someone. (One way the media can influence public opinion)

…

Significance - shows the media is not a neutral institution, and explains how elite messages can be twisted to increase reception among a wider audience.

Priming

Definition - The ability of the media to select some issues as newsworthy, while ignoring others

• Another way the media can influence public opinion.

Significance - it influences the standards by which political candidates are evaluated and contributes heavily to the issues people consider as important when they go to vote.

Agenda Setting

Definition - The ability of the media through its selection of issues as "newsworthy" to influence what the public considers the important issues of the day.

• A third way the media can influence public opinion

Significance - contributes to the media’s role as a ‘gatekeeper’ of information, which in turn affects what information the public sees and influences what are seen as ‘issues’.

Persuasion

Definition - the action or process of inducing someone to either support a certain belief or carry out a certain action. (A potential influence of the media by which public opinion or perception is changed.)

• One theory on the ability of the media to persuade is the minimal effects of school.

• Some people are more likely to be persuaded than others.

Significance - constant debate of whether or not the media can persuade the public, with most support for this being seen at presidential primaries when reception is low, information is difficult to come by and there’s no clear party cue to follow.

Scorekeeper

Definition - a role of the media where they hold candidates and incumbents to their word.

…

Significance - a kind of ‘check’ by the media to the executive and legislative branches, and is one of the most important roles of the media.

Consolidation

Definition - combining a number of media stations/companies into a small number of powerful companies.

…

Significance - one big reason why people don’t trust the media as it has led to the disappearance of independent news stations and narrows the variety of viewpoints accessible to the public.

Head of State

Definition - the highest-ranking public representative of a sovereign country.

…

Significance - as the US’ head of state, the President is responsible for representing America internationally and being the overall personification of the US. One of the President’s many roles.

Institutional Constraints

Definition - the constraints on the President that are dictated by the other institutions (only Congress can declare wars, the Courts can overturn laws, Congress can override a presidential veto with a supermajority etc.)

…

Significance - highlights the importance of checks and balances within the US political system and are there to make sure the President can never be as powerful as a king. The constraints, that are gathered from the Constitution, protect against a tyrannical leader.

Non-Institutional Constraints

Definition - the constraints on the presidency that are not directly attributable to a specific institution (time, vacation, media scrutiny)

…

Significance - another problem the presidency faces. They must balance running the country as the highest individual in the land while taking time for themselves in a way that does not make it look like they are neglecting their duties, and explains why they come in trying to hit the ground running so they look successful to the media (and thus the public) while doing as much as possible before Congress turns o