Wilson Chapter 4

Class consciousness

Give the term for the tendency to think of oneself as a worker whose

interests are in opposition to those of management and vice verse. This belief is

one part of the American political tradition.

Democracy

Give the term for an element of the American view of the political system,

in which Americans believe that government officials should be accountable to

the people.

Common identity

Give the term for a belief that Americans consider them selves bound by

common values and common hopes.

Civic duty

Give the term for the belief that citizens have an obligation to participate in

civic and political affairs. This belief is part of the American political tradition.

Political equality

Give the term for an element of the American view of the political system,

in which Americans believe that everybody should have an equal vote and an

equal chance.

Culture war

Give the term for a split in the United States on people’s beliefs about

private and public morality and what standards ought to govern individual

behavior and social arrangements.

Political efficacy

Give the term for a belief that one can affect government policies.

Orthodox

Give the term for one of two camps in the culture war that believes

morality is as important or even more so then self-expression and that moral

values are derived from God.

Equality of opportunity

Give the term for an economic value in American culture which maintains

that all people should have the same opportunity to get ahead but that people

should be paid on the bases of ability rather than on that of need.

Secularism

Give the term for the belief that moral standards do not require religious

justification.

internal political efficacy

Give the term for confidence in one’s own ability to understand and to take

part in political affairs. The confidence has remained stable over the past few

decades.

ideology

Give the term for a comprehensive set of political, economic, and social

views or ideas, concerned with the form and role of government.

Liberty

Give the term for an element of the American view of the political system,

in which Americans believe that people should be free to do what they please as

long as they don’t hurt other people.

Political Culture

Give the term for a patterned out way of thinking about how political and

economic life ought to be carried out.

Progressive

Give the term for one of two camps in the culture war that believes

personal freedom is more important than traditional rules and that rules depend

on circumstances.

protestant ethic

Give the term for a tradition of Protestant churches that required a life of

personal achievement as well as religious conviction; a believer had an obligation

to work, save money, obey the secular law, and do good works.

external political efficacy

Give the term for the belief that the political system will respond to what

citizens do.

adversarial politics

Give the term for a preoccupation of the American political culture that has

imbued the daily conduct of politics with a kind of adversarial spirit quite foreign

to the political life of countries that did not undergo a libertarian revolution or

were formed from an interest in other goals.

civic compentence

Give the term for the sense that citizens have the capacity to understand

and influence political events.

Individual responsibility

a characteristically American view that, barring a disability, individuals are responsible for thie own actions and well-being