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Thomas Edison State College *

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110

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Political Science

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Apr 3, 2024

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docx

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1. Identify and explain three primary agents of political socialization, and explain their importance. Next, identify and explain three secondary agents of political socialization. Do you think a person’s political opinion can change over time? Explain. [MO3.1] 1. Primary agents of political socialization are agents of socialization that occur during the formative years of a person. This would include things like family, school, media and church attendance during childhood. Secondary agents of political socialization are agents of socialization that occur after the formative years such as the workplace, political affliation, peers, and the media. A person’s opinion can and often does change over time due to both internal and external changes such as familial conflict, political discourse with peers, and major events that occur like a terrorist attack or economic depression. 2. Define political ideology and briefly define the following terms: libertarian, classical liberal, modern liberal, traditional conservative, modern conservative, socialism, communism, and fascism . [MO3.1] 1. Political ideology is set of ideals, beliefs, principles, or other guiding rules that is used to make political decisions about how the government should work. 2. Libertarians believe in the smallest amount of government intervention and should only exist in so much as to protect domestic peace and national defense. 3. Classical Liberal believes, like Libertarian, in individual rights and liberties and views government with suspicion but is ok with more government involvement in day to day lives than a libertarian. 4. Modern Liberal believes that the government should be involved to promote equality and to provide basic social, educational, and health needs. 5. Traditional conservative believes in the authority of a singular figure head government such as a monarchy or church leader. 6. Modern conservative wants government to stay out of economic policy and prefers a smaller government, but also maintains a desire to maintain traditions. 7. Socialism is the belief that the government is to use its authority to provide wide services from education to healthcare to housing. It is a belief system in a large government providing all basic needs to all citizens to ensure equal opportunities and outcomes. Large government redistributes resources for equality. 8. Communism is the belief that there is no private property in an effort to create equality. The government, much like socialism, still provides all basic needs to all citizens to provide equal opportunities and outcomes, the main difference is that there is private property under socialism while there is not under communism. 9. Fascism is the belief of total control by a ruling party or leader over all aspects. 3. Several factors play a role in a person’s interest and participation in government. List and explain three of these factors and how they contribute to/detract from participation. Why is it important for citizens to participate in the political process? [MO3.1, MO3.2] 1. Socio-economic status affects participation and is a good predictor of voter turnout. This is a combination of income and education, as the higher either one of these the higher the likelihood of participation becomes. This is likely due to being informed and feeling capable to participate as well as having the time to do so as needs are easily met. 2. Race plays a large factor as well, as government action towards a particular race or a parties actions or statements about a particular race will have a huge impact on how a person will participate or vote in a particular government policy or election. 3. Participation requirement is also a large part, as the US does not require participation unlike other countries that require voting or to pay a fine.

4. Describe some of the problems surrounding public opinion polls. How does public opinion influence public policy? [MO3.2] 1. Polling methodology is a large problem surrounding polls. From the way the question is phrased to the sample size and representation, these all can affect the results of the polls. When those polls are then publicized people are more or less likely to vote depending on of the results show a close margin or landslide. Public opinion influence on policy is small to moderate at best depending on the position of the person making policy. The president rarely is influenced by public opinion but uses public opinion to bolster policies they make, while a House Representative is more impacted by the president on the ticket and then public opinion. Senators are most affected by public opinion. These factors determine the control of the House, Senate and Presidency. 5. Explain the electoral college. Can an election in the electoral college differ from the population’s election? [MO3.4] 1. The Electoral College was a compromise by the Founding Fathers to meet in the middle between Congress picking the Chief Executive against a popular vote. The Electoral College can difference from the Popular Vote due to the way a majority of states utilize a winner-takes-all policy. This means that certain states have an unfair influence on determining the winner; those states that can swing in either direction then get a disproportionate amount of time from the candidate in order to win those electoral votes while riding on the safety of their parties usual win states. 6. Describe today’s political campaigns. Include the shadow campaign, primary campaigns, and general election campaigns. [MO3.3] 1. Political campaigns are based on name recognition, political issues, and party lines. Party lines remains a relatively simple aspect of the campaign while the name recognition and political issues rests on advertising and political rallies. This all begins with the primary campaign where each party runs several candidates and then elect who they will put as their presidential candidate. After each party has nominated their candidate the general election campaign begins. During the primary elections, the focus is visibility and political issues. This allows primary voters to quickly determine who they will vote for. Once they reach the general election, each party can rely on party voters to stay the party line and so focus on independent voters by focusing on social issues and policy while negatively targeting their opponent. Since both the primary and general campaigns require a large amount of financing for advertising and visibility, shadow campaigns have become a norm; which is company or special interest groups financing either explicit or non-explicit endorsements of candidates that are not specifically tied or associated with the candidate. 7. During the 1800s various political parties in the United States rose, evolved, and died. Today the two major parties reflect differing ideologies. Summarize the ideology each party promotes and the segments of society and the economy that each attracts. [MO3.3, MO3.4] 1. The two major parties are Democrats and Republicans. Democrats generally believe in a larger government in order to promote equality through social programs, unions, education, LGBTQ rights, and other progressive social stances. Republicans generally believe in a smaller government to minimize government control and interference in the market and individual rights while maintaining traditionally conservative stances on things like abortion, religion, death penalty, etc. 2. Republicans generally attract white, rural, uneducated males who are generally older and more religious; common term used for a typical Republican member is WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) thought it is not all encompassing. (Nadeem, 2023)

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