Notes from sept 23rd

Chapter 5 notes
- Political culture: is a set of widely shaped beliefs, values and norms concerning the ways that political and economic life ought to be carried out. This defines the relationship by the way the citizens’ act towards their government, to one another and to the economy
The political cultures are quite unique of each country:
1. Conflicting political culture: different groups clash with opposing beliefs and values
2. Consensual political culture: experiences less conflict. Most of our conflicts occur because we disagree on how these values should be implemented, not on the basic belief themselves.
American values - livery, equality, equal opportunity and equal law, individualism, Democracy, rule of law, civic duty, etc.
Values can change over time, trust of government and politics has gone down significantly since the mid- 1960s until the 21st century, disgust of politics and politicians.
Political efficacy: a citizen’s capability to understand and influence political events
Internal efficacy: the ability to understand and take part in political affairs.
External efficacy: the belief of the individual that government will respond to his or her personal beliefs or needs. Americans vote less than other European countries. Americans have a higher efficacy than any other countries.
In a democracy, government policy is supposed to be made in response to the public’s wishes. Public opinion is the collective attitude of the citizens on a given issue or question. Opinion policy involves interviewing a sample of citizens to estimate public opinion as a whole is a reliable way to measure public opinion. Characteristics of a contemporary relationship between the government policy and public opinion in the US include:
1. The publics attitudes toward a given government policy can vary dramatically over time
2. Public opinion places boundaries on allowable types of public policy
3. If asked by others, citizens are willing to register opinions on matters outside expertise
4. Government tends to respond to public opinion
5. Government sometimes does not do what the people want

Sorry its late Norah