CPS Vocab: Chapter 6

The distribution of the population’s beliefs about politics and policy issues

The science of population changes

An “actual enumeration” of the population, which the constitution requires the government to conduct every 10 years. » It’s a valuable tool for understanding demographic changes

A term used to characterize the US, with its history of immigration and mixing of cultures, ideas, & people

Situation (likely beginning in the mid-twenty-first century) when non-Hispanic whites will represent a minority of the US population and minority groups together will represent a majority

An overall set of values widely shared within a society

Process of reallocating seats in the House of Representatives every 10 years on the basis of the results of the census

Process through which individuals in a society acquire political attitudes, views, and knowledge, based on inputs from family, school, media, etc.

A relatively small proportion of people who are chosen in a survey so as to be representative of the whole

Key technique employed by survey researchers, which operates on the principle that everyone should have an equal probability of being selected for the sample

Level of confidence in the findings of a public opinion poll. The more people interviewed, the more confident one can be of the results

Technique used by pollsters to place telephone calls randomly to both listed and unlisted numbers when conducting a survey

Refers to voters who support a candidate merely because they see that others are doing it

Public opinion surveys used by major media pollsters to predict electoral winners with speed and precision

A coherent set of beliefs about politics, public policy, and public purpose, which helps give meaning to political events

Regular pattern in which women are more likely to support democratic candidates, partly because they tend to be less conservative than men and more likely to support spending on social services and to oppose higher levels of military spending

All the activities used by citizens to influence the selection of political leaders or the policies they pursue. SOME EXAMPLES ARE: - voting (most common) - protest - civil disobedience - attending a precinct’s caucus - filing a lawsuit - writing to a senator

Includes many widely accepted modes of influencing government (voting, trying to persuade others, ringing doorbells for a petition, running for office, etc.) (The more ‘relaxed’ modes if participation)

Includes less widely accepted modes of influencing that are usually more dramatic (protesting, civil disobedience, and sometimes even violence)

A form of political participation designed to achieve policy change through dramatic and unconventional tactics. The media’s willingness to cover unusual things can make protesting worthwhile

A form of political participation based on a conscious decision to break a law believed to be unjust and to suffer the consequences • MLK Jr’s Letter From A Birmingham Jail