Public opinion - political culture

Unit 2: Chapter 4POLITICAL CULTURE

Patterned way of thinking about how political and economic life should be carried out

Shared beliefs and values among a society

What are the 2 established/distinction groups in views and/or way of thinking about these two things in our current political culture?

POLITICAL CULTURE

5 Elements in American Political System View

A. Liberty: rights, free will as long as no harm to others is done B. Equality: equal vote and equal chance to participate and succeedC. Democracy: officials accountable to the peopleD. Civic Duty : citizens take community serious and participateE. Individual Responsibility : individuals are responsible for their own actions and well being

RANK THESE IN ORDER FROM #1 to #5(#1 most important, #5 least important)

THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

#1

* Do you think American people share these beliefs?

WHY? WHY NOT?

* How do we know American people share these beliefs?

* What advantage have we had in more recent history that may give answers to this question?

POLITICAL QUESTIONS

#2 – IF these values are important to Americans…

* What incidents in our history are inconsistent with these values?

* Why has there been/is there behavior in our society that goes against these basic values?

POLITICAL QUESTIONS

#3 – IF there is an agreement among Americans on certain political values….

* What incidents in our history show political conflict?

* Why has there been so much political conflict in our history?

POLITICAL QUESTIONS

Abortion

Religion

Immigration

Affirmative Action

Source of competing opinions/political conflict?* AGE & EDUCATION

Although conflict exists and affects every American, there is still an underlying level of AGREEMENT in the 5 elements

POLITICAL CONFLICT

Article #1 – “Just not the Marrying Kind”

- Read through and highlight interesting information and/or claims (WHAT is the article about?)

- What “groups/types” of Americans are being discussed in the article?

- HOW does this article relate to the 2 concepts involved in political culture?

- What factor does the article mention as a MAIN contributor to the decline of marriages?

- Do you agree that our largest national crisis is the decline of marriage?

TIME ARTICLE

Why do you think the results differ among these groups?

COMPARATIVE POLITICAL CULTURE

GROUP How Strongly do you love America?

White 91%Black 80%Hispanic 91%

America v. European Democracies

SIMILARITIES• democracy = good• majority rule• Respect minority rights

DIFFERENCES• America = 50%+ less in favor of it being the

government’s role to take care of the very poor• America = 60% in favor of the government NOT

guaranteeing every citizen food and basic shelter

COMPARATIVE POLITICAL CULTURE

Americans believe in _________________ equality, but do not believe in ________________ equality

What conclusions can you make from this graph data?

DEMOCRACY Pride Success

determined by outside control

Teach value of work

God and Morality

USA 71% 32% 60% 58%Canada 66 35 51 30Britain 45 48 38 25France 38 54 50 13Germany

21 68 22 33

Italy 38 66 NA 27

What is political tolerance?

Most Americans believe serious civic problems are caused by a lack of moral values

Is the nation becoming too tolerant of behaviors that harm society?

Should we defend common moral standards over protecting individual rights?

POLITICAL TOLERANCE

Religion

Family

Culture war & culture classes (orthodox and progressive)

Current social issues

SOURCES OF POLITICAL CULTURE

TIME article – read and highlight information that relates to political culture

In pairs, develop 2 compelling questions that challenges the information stated in the article

DISCUSSION

AMERICAN MOBILITY