American Political Culture Final Exam Review Sheet

The exam will include 30 – 40 multiple-choice questions, a choice of identifications (important terms and/or people), and a brief essay. It will cover all material covered through class readings and material covered in class. An outline is listed below including the assigned readings, which have been underlined. All information related to, and not limited to, the following topics may be included in the exam:

  1. What Does it Mean to be American?
  2. How would we define politics and political culuture?
  3. What has shaped American political culture?
  4. Pluralism in America
  5. Various forms of diversity in America – how does this affect shared American identity?
  6. “What Does It Mean to Be an “American?” Social Research, Vol. 57, No. 3 (FALL 1990), pp. 591-614
  7. hyphenated-americans
  8. what does it mean to be American – Jose Antonio Vargas video
  9. citizens and citizenship
  10. role, trust, rights, and political knowledge of citizens 9knowledge of, gov, politics, democratic principles)
  11. role of government in our lives
  12. political efficacy
  13. Civic Literacy Test
  14. Major Political Values: Liberty, Equality, Democracy
  15. Americanpolitical system and structure
  16. American identity
  17. The Bradley Project on American National Identity, “E Pluribus Unum,” pgs. 1-46 (also available at:
  18. Identifications: democracy, liberty, equality, e pluribus unum, republic, U.S. Constitution, pluralism, Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers, Bill of Rights, Michael Waltzer, Jose Antonio Vargas, political efficacy
  19. Social and Historical Construction of American Identity and Values
  20. Essentialism vs. social construction
  21. Constructing categories of difference and inequality
  22. “Part I: Constructing Differences,” from The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality by Tracy E. Ore, pgs. 1 – 17
  23. Three contexts
  24. socializing agents/institutions (family, education, economy, government, media)
  25. interpersonal context
  26. internal context
  27. Constructing race, ethnicity, calss, gender, and sexual orientation
  28. Race vs. ethnicity
  29. Historical construction
  30. How has class and poverty been constructed historically (poverty threshold)
  31. Historical construction of race (U.S. Census etc.)
  32. Role of slavery (how was it defended, how did it form racial categories…)
  33. Course Website: “The Evolution of Identity,” from The Washington Post in The Meaning of Difference, 5th edition, eds. Karen E. Rosenblum and Toni-Michelle C. Travis pg. 59
  34. Rothenberg: “Racial Formations,” by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, pgs. 13 – 19
  35. Course Website: “Introduction: The Fabrication of Race” and “The Political History of Whiteness,” from Whiteness of a Different Color by Matthew Frye Jacobson, pgs. 1 – 14
  36. Course Website: “Whiteness as an “Unmarked” Cultural Category,” by Ruth Frankenberg in The Meaning of Difference, 5th edition, eds. Karen E. Rosenblum and Toni-Michelle C. Travis pgs. 81 – 87
  37. Other Assigned Readings:
  38. Identifications: essentialism, social construction, historical construction, race, ethnicity, poverty threshold, cultural relativism, ethnocentrism
  39. How Should Americans be Educated?
  40. Public education in America
  41. Goals of public education (how have these changed over time?)
  42. Role of education in shaping American identity and “Americanizing” immigrants
  43. History including foundational players (Webster, Jefferson, Mann, Dewey, Kallen…)
  44. Course Website: “Education and Democracy: The United States of America as a Historical Case Study,” by Diane Ravitch, Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, (April 2008), pp. 42-56.
  45. Cultural Literacy by E.D. Hirsch – what is it? why is it controversial? Is it helpful? Relationship to American values?
  46. Affirmative Action
  47. History (Early political foundations, Bakke case, Michigan cases, current Supreme Court case)
  48. Other Assigned Readings:
  49. Course Website: “American Democracy, Education, and Utopianism,” by Eamonn Callan, Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, (April 2008), pp. 74-81.
  50. Identifications: Noah Webster, Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, John Dewey, Horace Kallen, Cultural Literacy, E.D. Hirsch, affirmative action, Bakke vs. Regents of University of California, Davis,
  51. The Media Effect
  52. Types of media (print, broadcast – radio and TV, and internet)
  53. How have these changed? What does each do well?
  54. How do these shape American political culture?
  55. Course Website: “On the Connection Between Associations and Newspapers,” from Democracy in America (1834), by Alexis de Tocqueville.
  56. Media power (agenda setting, framing, priming, watchdog/oversight)
  57. News Coverage (journalists, audience, conflict, changes in news coverage over time and through different media)
  58. Course Website: “The State of the News Media 2013: Overview and Major Trends,” The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
  59. Course Website: Ch. 12 by Markus Prior, pgs. 153-163
  60. Who plays an active role in shaping our political news
  61. Course Website: Ch. 35 by Jarol B. Manheim, pgs. 421 – 429
  62. Identifications: agenda setting, framing, priming, political “watchdog,” Marcus Prior, audience fragmentation, Jerol Manheim, JFK/Nixon debates
  63. Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Changing U.S. Demographics
  64. Why have Americans felt positively and negatively about immigrants throughout history?
  65. “old” and “new” immigrants
  66. Changes in US immigration policy
  67. Naturalization act of 1790
  68. Chinese exclusion act of 1882
  69. Immigration act of 1924 (Reed-Johnson Act)
  70. Immigration act of 1965
  71. Refugee act of 1980
  72. Immigration reform and control act of 1986
  73. Rothenberg: “A New Century: Immigration and the US,” by MPI Staff, updated by Kevin Jernegan, pgs. 201 - 206
  74. Immigrants Today
  75. Where do most immigrants live in the US and where do they come from? How has this changed?
  76. Characteristics of immigrants today (housing, economy, jobs, education, income, citizenship status
  77. Effect of immigration on the future of US (diversity, birth rate, changing opinions on immigration)
  78. What is the best policy for legal immigration in the future? Undocumented immigrants?
  79. Current immigration proposal including paths to citizenship
  80. Course Website: “Demographic Trends in the 20th Century,” by Frank Hobbs and Nicole Stoops pgs. 71 – 111
  81. Course Website: “Minority Population Growth: 1995 to 2050,” by U.S. Department of Commerce, pgs. 1 – 10
  82. Course Website: “Census Bureau Predicts Diverse U.S. Future,” by Genaro C. Armas, pgs. 203 – 205
  83. Course Website: “A New Race,” by Arthur M. Schlesinger in The Disuniting of America, pgs. 23 – 43
  84. Other Assigned Readings:
  85. Rothenberg: “Immigration’s Aftermath,” by Alejandro Portes, pgs. 365 – 369
  86. Identifications: old immigrants, new immigrants, Naturalization act of 1790, Chinese exclusion act of 1882, Immigration act of 1924 (Reed-Johnson Act), Immigration Act of 1965, Arthur Schlesinger
  87. Race and Ethnicity
  88. How have our personal ideas about race and ethnicity been formed?
  89. Project implicit from the blog
  90. Race and ethnicity as social constructs
  91. How has categorization and ranking of people based on race changed
  92. Rothenberg: “Racial Formations,” by Michael Omi and Howard Winant, pgs. 13 – 19
  93. Role of media and history in social construction on race
  94. Rothenberg: “The Black Codes,” by W.E.B. DuBois, pgs 528 – 536
  95. Rothenberg: “Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896,” pgs. 542 – 544
  96. Rothenberg: “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954,” pgs. 550 – 554
  97. White Privilege
  98. Rothenberg: “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” by Peggy McIntosh, pgs. 172 – 177
  99. What is it and how is it related to American culture and norms of society?
  100. Effect of race and ethnicity in American national identity and political culture
  101. Role of immigration, slavery, racial tension, social movements
  102. Major historical events (reconstruction, black codes, jim crow, legal battles, civil rights movement, legislative victories)
  103. Lasting effects – Meeting David Wilson video clip
  104. Asian American experience
  105. Historical events
  106. Rothenberg: “Asian American?” by Sonia Shah, pgs. 217 – 219
  107. Rothenberg: “The Myth of the Model Minority,” by Noy Thrupkaew, pgs 220 – 226
  108. Course Website: “Seeing More Than Black and White,” by Elizabeth Martinez in The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality ed. Tracy E. Ore, pgs. 752 – 758
  109. Other Assigned Readings:
  110. Rothenberg: “Shades of Belonging: Latinos and Racial Identity,” by Sonya Tafoya, pgs. 214 – 217
  111. Identifications: Samuel Morton, black codes, reconstruction, plessy v. ferguson, brown v. board of education, white privilege, Jim crow, grandfather clause, literacy test,
  112. Class in America: Individualism, Inequality, and the Role of Government
  113. Income vs. wealth
  114. Level of income and wealth inequality in America today
  115. Course Website: William Hudson, American Democracy in Peril, 5th ed, Chapter 7: “The Seventh Challenge: Inequality,” pp. 263-304.
  116. Rothenberg: “Imagine a Country – 2009,” by Holly Sklar, pgs. 307 – 315
  117. Political ideologies (social conservatives and liberals, and fiscal conservatives and liberals)
  118. Libertarianism (what is the political philosophy? What is the general perspective about the government? what is the role of the individual? how does this connect to American political values?)
  119. Course Website: Chapter 4: The Dignity of the Individual,” from Libertarianism: A Primer by David Boaz, p. 94-105.
  120. The “Life Happens” Game
  121. Identifications: income, wealth, social conservative vs. liberal, fiscal conservative vs. liberal, inequality, individualism, libertarianism
  122. Religion in America
  123. Role of religion in politics (and American culture) through history
  124. Course Website: The Mayflower Compact
  125. American religions today
  126. How have they changed? What is the American religious marketplace?
  127. What religions are gaining, which are losing members? Role of unaffiliated?
  128. Various types of religions in America today
  129. Course Website: “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” The PEW Forum on Religious and Public Life. Pgs. 1-71.
  130. Religious discrimination today: being Muslim in America, stereotypes against religions, ethnicities seen as being “less American”
  131. Post 9/11 America, PATRIOT Act etc.
  132. Separation of church and state (what is it, where does it come from, how realistic is it)
  133. How much influence should religion have in our political or policy decisions in America?
  134. Secularism in America
  135. Representation of religions in American government
  136. Identifications: separation of church and state, Thomas Jefferson, American religious marketplace, protestant, evangelical, mainline protestant, war on Christmas
  137. Electoral Politics, Representation, the Obama Election and Beyond
  138. How do different groups vote (exit polls)
  139. Representation (descriptive vs. substantive and symbolic)
  140. Course Website: “Preferable Descriptive Representatives: Will Just Any Woman, Black or Latino Do?” by Suzanne Dovi, pgs. 729 – 742
  141. Arguments for descriptive representatives
  142. Current representation in congress
  143. Majority minority districts (gerrymandering, effect on minorities and the parties)
  144. 2008 election and beyond (Obama effect, effect on race relations, “post racial” concept, electoral implications of changing racial/ethic make of the country)
  145. Course Website: “A More Perfect Union,” speech by Barack Obama
  146. Course Website: “Speech Following George Zimmerman Verdict,” speech by Barack Obama
  147. Course Website: “Is Obama the End of Black Politics?” by Matt Bai, NY Times
  148. Course Website: “Inside the Hispanic vote: Growing in numbers, growing in diversity,” by Manav Tanneeru, CNN
  149. Affirmative Action
  150. Historical buildup (political actions and major court decisions)
  151. Use in employment and education (effects on other stakeholders)
  152. Course Website: “The Effects of Affirmative Action on Other Stakeholders,” by Barbara Reskin in The Social Construction of Difference and Inequality ed. Tracy E. Ore, pgs. 419 – 427
  153. Modern debate (Bakke, prop 209, Michigan cases, Seattle case)
  154. Course Website: “Beyond Race in Affirmative Action (read all six viewpoints),” NY Times
  155. Identifications: Shadow Senator, majority minority district, descriptive vs. substantive, vs. symbolic representative, A More Perfect Union speech, affirmative action, Bakke v. Regents of U of Califormia, Michigan Cases (Gratz and Grutter cases), ten percent plan, Fisher v. University of Texas
  156. Major Themes from Student Presentations