Social studies flashcards
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10 decks
- American Government and Civic Engagement (American Government)Recall cards on the foundations of American government and civic engagement. What government and politics are, the services government provides, and the distinction between public, private, common, and toll goods. The forms of government, democracy, representative and direct democracy, monarchy, oligarchy, and totalitarianism. Who governs, elite theory versus pluralist theory and the tradeoffs perspective, plus majority rule, minority rights, intense and latent preferences, ideology, and partisanship. And engagement in a democracy: civic engagement, social capital, voting, recent participation figures, and how participation correlates with wealth and education.
- The Constitution and Its Origins (American Government)Recall cards on the origins of the U.S. Constitution. The pre-revolutionary roots of American political thought, natural rights, the social contract, John Locke, the Stamp Act, the Continental Congresses, and the Declaration of Independence. The Articles of Confederation and the weaknesses of a confederation with no power to tax or regulate commerce, including Shays' Rebellion. The Constitutional Convention, the Virginia and New Jersey plans, the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, enumerated and reserved powers, and the supremacy clause. The ratification fight between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the Federalist Papers, and the promise of a bill of rights. And constitutional change: the Article V amendment process and the Bill of Rights.
- Federalism (American Government)Recall cards on American federalism. The division of powers between the national and state governments, including unitary systems, implied powers, the necessary and proper (elastic) clause, the commerce clause, the Tenth Amendment, concurrent powers, the full faith and credit clause, and the privileges and immunities clause. The evolution of federalism from dual (layer-cake) to cooperative (marble-cake) to new federalism, with McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, nullification, devolution, and the New Deal. Intergovernmental relationships: categorical and block grants, unfunded mandates, and creeping categorization. Competitive and immigration federalism, venue shopping, and Arizona v. United States. And the advantages and disadvantages of federalism, including states as laboratories of democracy, policy diversity, the race to the bottom, and cross-state economic inequality.
- Civil Liberties (American Government)Recall cards on American civil liberties. What civil liberties are and how they differ from civil rights, Barron v. Baltimore, the due process clause, procedural and substantive due process, and selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The First Amendment's establishment and free exercise clauses (the Lemon and Sherbert tests, Engel v. Vitale), freedom of expression and symbolic speech (Texas v. Johnson, Tinker, Schenck, Brandenburg), prior restraint, defamation, and obscenity. The Second Amendment (Heller, McDonald) and the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches, including search warrants, probable cause, and the exclusionary rule. The rights of suspects under the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments (grand juries, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, Miranda, eminent domain, right to counsel, cruel and unusual punishment). And interpreting the Bill of Rights: the Ninth Amendment and the right to privacy (Griswold, Roe, Casey, Lawrence, Carpenter).
- Civil Rights (American Government)Recall cards on American civil rights. What civil rights are and how government classifies people: the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause and the three tiers of judicial scrutiny (rational basis, intermediate scrutiny for sex, strict scrutiny for race), plus de jure and de facto segregation. The African American struggle for equality: Reconstruction, the black codes, the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, and the machinery of disenfranchisement (poll taxes, literacy and understanding tests, the grandfather clause, the white primary), through civil disobedience and direct action to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The fight for women's rights (coverture, Seneca Falls, the Nineteenth Amendment, the ERA, Title IX, comparable worth, the glass ceiling). Civil rights for Indigenous groups (Indian Removal, the Trail of Tears, the Dawes and Indian Reorganization Acts, AIM, and self-determination). And equal protection for other groups: Chicano organizing and the UFW, the Chinese Exclusion Act and Lau v. Nichols, Stonewall, Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges, the ADA, affirmative action, and hate crimes.
- The Politics of Public Opinion (American Government)Recall cards on public opinion in American politics. What public opinion is and how it forms: political socialization and its agents (family, schools, peers, religious organizations, and the media), and the major political ideologies (classical, modern, and traditional variants of liberalism and conservatism, plus socialism, communism, and fascism). How public opinion is measured: representative and random samples, the margin of error, exit, straw, push, and favorability polls, leading questions, the Bradley effect, and overt versus covert content. What the public thinks and the heuristics it uses (party identification, political elites, political culture, diffuse support) plus the patterns in presidential, congressional, and Supreme Court approval ratings. And the effects of public opinion: delegate representation, the bandwagon effect, horserace coverage, political capital, and the greater responsiveness of the House relative to the Senate.
- Elections and Voting (American Government)Recall cards on U.S. elections and voting. Voter registration: residency requirements, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (Motor Voter), Shelby County v. Holder, and the citizen, resident, and age requirements. Voter turnout: the voting-age versus voting-eligible population, voter and ballot fatigue, early voting, the chronic minority, education and income as predictors, and compulsory voting. Elections: closed, open, and top-two primaries, caucuses, delegates, midterm elections, the coattail effect, the Electoral College, winner-take-all and district allocation, PACs and super PACs, shadow campaigns, and the Federal Election Commission. Campaigns and voting: incumbents and the incumbency advantage, party platforms, straight-ticket voting, and retrospective versus prospective voting. And direct democracy: the initiative, referendum, and recall, their Progressive Era origins, and their regional distribution.
- The Media (American Government)Recall cards on the news media in American democracy. What the media are: mass media, public relations, beats, soft news, the fourth estate and public-forum roles, and the concentration of media ownership. The evolution of the media: the party press and penny press, yellow journalism, muckraking and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, digital paywalls, citizen journalism, and the rise of radio and television. Regulating the media: the FCC, the defunct fairness doctrine, the equal-time rule, indecency rules and the safe-harbor hours, prior restraint, the Freedom of Information Act, sunshine laws, reporter's privilege, and Branzburg v. Hayes. And the impact of the media: agenda setting, episodic and thematic framing, priming, cultivation, hypodermic, and minimal-effects theories, the shrinking sound bite, and coverage of women candidates.
- Political Parties (American Government)Recall cards on political parties in American democracy. What parties are and how they formed: party platforms and nominating conventions, the first party system (Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans), the Revolution of 1800, the corrupt bargain of 1824, and the enduring Democratic-Republican two-party dominance since the Civil War. The two-party system: plurality (first-past-the-post) versus majoritarian and proportional-representation electoral rules, third parties, and the Maine/Nebraska electoral-vote exception. The shape of modern parties: V. O. Key's three components (party in the electorate, organization, and in government), party identifiers, precincts, political machines, and personal politics. And divided government and polarization: majority and minority parties, moderates, party polarization, realignment, critical elections, sorting, bipartisanship, reapportionment, redistricting, gerrymandering, safe seats, and unified government.
- Interest Groups and Lobbying (American Government)Recall cards on interest groups and lobbying in American politics. Interest groups defined: lobbyists, membership organizations, associations, particularized benefits, public interest groups, and collective goods. Collective action and group formation: the collective action and free rider problems and the material, solidary, and purposive incentives and disturbance theory that overcome them. Interest groups as political participation: efficacy, grassroots versus astroturf movements, and issue framing. Pathways of influence: inside versus outside lobbying, contract, in-house, and legislative-liaison lobbyists, iron triangles, issue networks, voting cues, neopluralism, and the elite critique. And free speech and regulation: the First Amendment right to petition, soft money, revolving door laws, Citizens United, McCutcheon, and the FECA, BCRA, Lobbying Disclosure Act, and Honest Leadership statutes.