AP US Government and Politics



AP US Government and Politics

Unit Plan

Unit 2

1.Title and Brief Description

Unit Title

Political Beliefs and Behaviors

Content Description

(AP Topic Description)

Individual citizens hold a variety of beliefs about their government, its leaders, and the

U.S. political system in general; taken together, these beliefs form the foundation of U.S. political culture. It is important for students to understand how these beliefs are formed, how they evolve, and the processes by which they are transmitted. Students should know why U.S. citizens hold certain beliefs about politics, and how families, schools, and the media act to perpetuate or change these beliefs. Understanding the ways in which political culture affects and informs political participation is also critical. For example, students should know that individuals often engage in multiple forms of political participation, including voting, protest, and mass movements.

Students should understand why individuals engage in various forms of political participation and how that participation may affect the political system.

Finally, it is essential that students understand what leads citizens to differ from one another in their political beliefs and behaviors and the political consequences of these differences. To understand these differences, students should focus on the demographic features of the American population and the different views that people hold of the political process. They should be aware of group differences in political beliefs and behavior. Students should also understand how changes in political participation affect the political system.

Essential Questions

A. Why does our government behave differently than governments in countries with similar constitutions?

B. What role should public opinion play in American democracy?

C. How should the average American participate in America’s representative democracy?

Schedule

5% to 15% of course content 17 class days 2/1/12 - 2/28/12

2. Unit Objectives

1. Define what scholars mean by political culture, and list some of the dominant aspects of political culture in the United States.

2. Discuss how U.S. citizens compare with those of other countries in their political attitudes.

3. List the contributions to U.S. political culture made by the Revolution, by the nation's religious heritages, and by the family. Explain the apparent absence of class consciousness in this country.

4. Explain why some observers are quite concerned about the growth of mistrust in government and why others regard this mistrust as normal and healthy.

5. Define internal and external feelings of political efficacy, and explain how the level of each of these has varied over the past generation.

6. Explain why a certain level of political tolerance is necessary in the conduct of democratic politics, and review the evidence that indicates just how much political tolerance exists in this country. Agree or disagree with the text's conclusion that no group is truly free of political intolerance.

7. List the sources of our political attitudes, and indicate which are the most important sources. Assess the influence of various religious traditions on political attitudes.

8. Explain why there is no single cleavage between liberals and conservatives in this country and why there are crosscutting cleavages. Explain the significance of these facts. Assess the significance of race in explaining political attitudes.

9. Define political ideology and state why most Americans do not think ideologically. Summarize the liberal positions on the economy, civil rights, and political conduct. Describe the major policy packages in the Democratic party, and indicate which groups in the Democratic coalition can be identified with each package.

10. Identify which elite groups have become liberal, and compare their current attitudes with the past political preferences of these groups. Discuss the "new class" theory as an explanation for changes in attitudes. Analyze why these changes are causing strain in the political party system.

11. Explain why the text believes that the description, the analysis, and the proposed remedy for low voter turnout rates in this country are off base.

12. Compare the way turnout statistics are tabulated for this country and for other countries, and explain the significance of these differences.

13. Describe how the control of elections has shifted from the states to the federal government, and explain what effects this shift has had on blacks, women, and youths.

14. State both sides of the debate over whether voter turnout has declined over the past century, and describe those factors that tend to hold down voter turnout in this country.

15. List and explain Nie and Verba's four categories of political participation.

16. Discuss those factors that appear to be associated with high or low political participation.

17. Compare participation rates in various forms of political activity here and in other countries.

3. Classroom Activity and Assignment Schedule

|DAY |DATE |TOPIC / ACTIVITY |READINGS & ASSIGNMENTS DUE |

| | | | |

|1 |2/1/12 |Intro to Political Culture |Reading(s): Wilson, Ch. 4: 75-96 |

| | | |Woll, Ch. 8: |

| | | |Assignment: Congress Simulations |

|2 |2/2/12 |Comparing America |“How Divided Are We?” |

|3 |2/3/12 |Sources, and Mistrust |Woll: 34: 192-199 |

|4 |2/6/12 |Political Efficacy and Tolerance | |

|5 |2/7/12 |Intro to Public Opinion |Reading(s): Wilson, Ch. 7: 155-175 |

|6 |2/8/12 |Political Socialization | |

|7 |2/9/12 |Political Ideology | |

|8 |2/10/12 |Political Soc. and Ideology | |

|9 |2/13/12 |Intro to Participation |Reading(s): Wilson, Ch. 8: 178-195 |

|10 |2/14/12 |Nonvoting and Electorate | |

|11 |2/15/12 |Electorate cont. | |

|12 |2/16/12 |Who Participates? | |

|13 |2/21/12 | | |

|14 |2/22/12 |Unit Review | |

|15 |2/23/12 |Exam: Unit Review | |

| | | |Assignment: Executive Branch Activity |

|16 |2/24/12 |Exam: MC (45) and FRQ (1) (1) | |

4. Study Guide Questions for Reading Assignments

Use your own words to answer these questions. Please type and save the answers on your hard drive. When appropriate, you may answer with bullet points. Complete sentences aren’t necessary if you can make the point with phrases. Do NOT go overboard with your answers; you don’t need to recopy the book. Whenever possible, put the answers in your own words, even if your words are just a list of phrases that still address the questions. It helps to have the question with the answer. You can copy, paste and print the questions from the Unit 3 Resources page of my website and then fill in your answers.

Reading Questions for Chapter Four

1. What are the elements that the book identifies with our political culture? What is the difference between a political culture and a political ideology?

2. What is the difference between equality of opportunity and equality of results?

3. Be familiar with the differences between American political culture and other countries’ political cultures? (When Betsy says “be familiar” with something in a question – you don’t have to write anything, just understand the concepts. Of course, if you’re a perfectionist or a worry wart, feel free write notes.) Skim through the section on the “sources of Political Culture” and be familiar with what those sources are.

4. Summarize (you can use bullet points) what the book says about the “culture war” in America.

5. What is the difference between internal and external efficacy? Look at Figure 4.3 on p. 90 and decide if you agree or disagree with these statements.

6. As you read through the rest of the chapter, think about how you’d answer the questions asked in Figures 4.1 to 4.6.

Reading Questions for Chapter Seven

1. What was the Founders’ attitude towards public opinion? Give examples of how we see that attitude reflected in how they wrote the Constitution.

2. Identify three problems in assessing public opinion.

3. The book gives four factors that affect political attitudes. Identify those four factors and summarize the conclusions about how those factors affect people’s political attitudes. Memorize this list.

4. The book discusses cleavages which may divide various demographic groups ideologically. The authors give three factors that divide people’s political beliefs. Identify those three factors and summarize the conclusions about the correlation between these factors and people’s political opinions. Memorize this.

5. What were the meanings of the words “liberal” and “conservative” in the 19th century and how did these meanings change in the 20th century?

6. Summarize the four ideological labels the authors describe on pg. 170. Feel free to use a chart or bullet points for your summary.

7 What are the two reasons the book gives why activists or the political elite tend to have more ideological consistency than those who aren’t active? What effect does this ideological consistency have on the difference ideologically between politicians and voters?

8 What does the term “new class” mean? What political ideology to those in the “new class” ascribe to? Why?

9. How do elites influence public opinion? What are the limits to their ability to shape public opinion?

Reading Questions for Chapter Eight

1. Why does the book say that it is incorrect to say that Americans don’t vote as a result of apathy?

2. What did Congress pass to increase voter participation and what has been the result of that law?

3. How did states try to keep blacks from voting? Summarize those tactics and how they gradually were changed. Make sure you know what a literacy test, poll tax, grandfather clause, and the white primary were.

4. What political effects have there been since the Nineteenth and Twenty-sixth Amendments?

5. Summarize the arguments as to why voter turnout has declined. (a bullet –list is fine).

6. Make a list of the generalizations that the book makes (pp. 187-193) about which groups tend to be more or less likely to vote. Memorize this list.

7. Summarize the five reasons the book gives for why Americans register and vote less frequently.

Key Terms

You should be familiar with all of these, and the text key terms by the end of the unit.

|1. |Political Culture |18. |Political Elite |35. |saliency |

|2. |Political Ideology |19. |New Class |36. |Help America Vote Act 2002 |

|3. |Equality of Opportunity |20. |New Deal Coalition |37. |Motor-Voter Law (1993) |

|4. |Equality of Results |21. |random sample |39. |Fifteenth Amendment |

|5. |Civic duty |22. |sampling error |40. |literacy test |

|6. |progressive culture |23. |Weighting |41. |poll tax |

|7. |orthodox culture |24. |quota sample |42. |grandfather clause |

|8. |political efficacy |25. |focus groups |43. |white primary |

|9. |Middle America |26. |instant response polling |44. |Voting Rights Act (1965) |

|10. |Silent Majority |27. |push polls |45. |Nineteenth Amendment (1920) |

|11. |Social Status (socio-economic status,|28. |bandwagon effect |46. |Voting Rights Act (1970) and (1982) |

| |SES) | | | | |

|12. |Christian Coalition |29. |refusal rate |47. |Twenty-Sixth Amendment (1971) |

|13. |Gender Gap |30. |exit polls |48. |Twenty-Third Amendment (1961) |

|14. |Liberal |31. |Tracking poll |49. |disfranchisement |

|15. |Conservative |32. |skewed question |50. |Australian ballot |

|16. |Libertarian |33. |context effect |51. |activist |

|17. |Populist |34. |question framing |52. |demographics |

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