AP Government Unit 2

1 GAP/GAPTAG UNIT 2 (CHAPTERS 6, 7, 10) VOCABULARY/DEFINITIONS MEMORIZE THESE VOCABULARY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS FOR QUIZZES THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER. CHAPTER 6 1. Baker v Carr - "one person, one vote" standard, each individual had to be weighted equally in legislative apportionment 2. Census – “actual enumeration” conducted every 10 years per the Constitution to determine representation in the House of Representatives. 3. Civil disobedience – a form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences. 4. Conservative – less or no government regulation of economy, privatization of health care, retirement benefits, welfare. Low taxes, pro-life, higher military spending, less government role in promoting social equality. 5. Demography – the science of population changes 6. Exit poll – public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision. 7. Gender gap – term that refers to the regular pattern by which women are more likely to support liberal or democratic candidates than men. 8. Gerrymandering - Manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class. 9. George Gallup – developed the science of public opinion polling 10. Group benefit voters – voting for parties based on which one would benefit groups that voters belonged to or supported. 11. Ideologues – When voters vote along primarily, ideological lines. 12. Liberal – government regulation of economy, health care, help for the poor, civil rights. Pro-choice, separation of church and state, less military spending, taxing of the rich. 13. Melting pot – mixing of cultures, ideas, and peoples that has changed the American nation. 14. Minority majority – The emergence of a non-Caucasian majority, as compared with a White, Anglo-Saxon majority. 15. Nature of the times voters – voting one the political party who is linked to good times. Example- voting Republican because they promise to get the nation out of the recession 16. No issue content – they vote for candidates on their personality but not on issues or ideological reasons. 17. Political culture – an overall set of values widely shared within a society. 18. Political efficacy – a citizen’s capacity to understand and influence political events. 19. Political ideology – a coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose. It helps give meaning to political events, personalities, and policies. 20. Political socialization – the process through which a young person acquires political ideologies usually based on inputs from parents, teachers, the media, and friends. 21. Political tolerance – a democratic value that depends on citizens being reasonably tolerant of the opinions and actions of others. The overwhelming majority of Americans believe in this in the abstract but not in practice. 22. Protest – a form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics. 23. Public Opinion – the distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues. 24. Random-digit dialing – a technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey. 25. Random sampling – the key technique employed by sophisticated survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample. 26. Reapportionment – the process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census. 27. Redistricting – the re-drawing of district lines by the state legislatures after the 435 seats of the House are re-apportioned and each state receives its apportioned number of seats. 28. Sample – a relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole. 29. Sampling error – the level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results. 30. Simpson – Mazzoli Act -required employers to attest to their employees' immigration status and made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants. 31. Straw poll - an unofficial poll or vote taken to determine the opinion of a group or the public on some issue 2 CHAPTER 7 1. Beats – specific locations from which news frequently emanates, such as congress or the White House. Reporters who work specific beats become specialists in that area. 2. Broadcast media – television, radio, internet 3. Chains – newspapers published by massive media conglomerates that account for over four-fifths of the nation’s daily newspaper circulation. They often control broadcast media as well. 4. High-tech politics – a politics in which the behavior of citizens and policymakers and the political agenda itself are increasingly shaped by technology. 5. Investigative journalism – the use of in-depth reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, at times putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leaders OR the activity of news reporters trying to discover information which is of public interest but which someone might be keeping hidden 6. Mass media – means of popular communication such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet. 7. Media events – events purposely staged for the media that nonetheless look spontaneous. In keeping with politics as theater, media events can be staged by individuals, groups, and government officials. 8. Narrowcasting – media programming on cable TV or the Internet that is focused on one topic and aimed at a particular audience. Examples include MTV, ESPN, C-Span. 9. Policy entrepreneurs – people who invest their political “capital” in an issue. They could be in or out of the government, in elected or appointed positions, in interest groups or research organizations. 10. Press conferences – meetings of public officials with reporters. 11. Print media – newspapers and magazines 12. Sound bites – short video clips of approximately 10 seconds. 13. Talking head – a shot of a person’s face talking directly to the camera. Today, most major commercial networks rarely show a politician talking one-on-one for very long. 14. Trial balloons - a tentative action or statement designed to test public opinion on a controversial matter. This may also be an intentional news leak to assess public reaction. CHAPTER 10 1. 527s – tax exempt organizations created primarily to influence the nomination, election, appointment, or defeat of candidates for public office. They are not regulated by the FEC and not subject to the same limits as PACs. 2. Actual group – the part of the potential group consisting of members who actually join. 3. Amicus curiae briefs – legal briefs submitted by a “friend of the court” for the purpose of raising additional points of view and presenting information not contained in the briefs of the formal parties. 4. Class action suits – lawsuits permitting a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated. 5. Collective good – something of value such as money, clean air, a tax write-off, that cannot be withheld from a group member. 6. Electioneering – direct group involvement in the electoral process such as funding campaigns, providing testimony, and getting members to work for campaigns through the use of PACs. 7. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – government agency that allows radio or television stations to operate with a license. 8. Free-rider problem – the problem faced by unions and other groups when people do not join because they can benefit from the group’s activities without officially joining. According to Mancur Olson, the bigger the group, the more serious the problem because it will fall short of providing an optimal amount of a collective good. 9. Grass-roots lobbying – interest groups appeal to the public to influence policymakers through advertisement primarily. 10. Interest group – an organization of people with shared policy goals entering the policy process at several pints to try to achieve those goals. Interest groups main objective is to influence the policymakers. 11. Iron Triangles – also known as subgovernments, composed of interest group leaders interested in a particular policy, the government agency in charge of administering that policy, and the members of congressional committees and subcommittees handling that policy. 12. Litigation - To engage in legal proceedings. 3 13. Lobbying – communication method used by interest groups to influence policymakers into making policies that favor the interest groups. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 requires the disclosure of lobbying activities intended to influence the federal government. 14. Political Action Committees (PACs) – these are political funding vehicles used by interest groups. Created in the 1974 campaign finance reforms, these groups must register with the FEC (Federal Trade Commission). 15. Potential group – all the people who might be interest group members because they share some common interest. A potential group is almost always larger than an actual group. 16. Revolving door – when government officials quit their jobs to take positions as lobbyists or consultants to businesses. Criticized because it gives private interests unfair influence over government decisions. 17. Right-to-work laws – a state law forbidding requirements that a worker must join a union to hold their jobs. 18. Selective benefits – goods such as information flyers, travel discounts, or group insurance rates that a group can provide to those who pay their annual dues. 19. Spin doctor – a campaign staffer who tries to influence journalists with interpretations of events that are favorable to a particular candidate. 20. Subgovernments – a network of groups with the American political system that exercise a great deal of control over specific policy areas. 21. Union shop – a provision found in some collective bargaining agreements requiring all employees of a business to join the union and to remain members as a condition of employment.