Deck 2: Political Theory and Political Beliefs

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT an object of direct study in micropolitics?

A) Individuals
B) Families
C) Societies
D) Committees
E) Juries

Answer 1

Societies

Question 2

The feelings or emotions evoked by a political stimulus constitute the individual's

A) cognitive orientations.
B) affective orientations.
C) primary orientations.
D) evaluative orientations.
E) normative orientations.

Answer 2

affective orientations.

Question 3

Which of the following questions could be a core question asked in examining an individual's belief system?

A) What is the subject and nature of the individual's beliefs?
B) What importance is attached to the beliefs by the individual?
C) Do the beliefs motivate the individual to undertake any political actions?
D) How consistent are the individual's beliefs over time?
E) All of the above

Answer 3

All of the above

Question 4

The political culture of a society may be defined as

A) the social, economic, and ethnic characteristics of the society's members.
B) the configuration of political orientations among people in that society.
C) the major political beliefs of the society's top government officials.
D) the most popular political media of a society.
E) None of the above

Question 5

Which person is strongly identified with classical liberal thinking?

A) Plato
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) John Locke
D) V.I. Lenin
E) Edmund Burke

Question 6

Which of the following ideologies place(s) particular importance on stability, tradition, and loyalty to God and country?

A) Socialism
B) Conservatism
C) Classical liberalism
D) None of the above
E) All of the above

Question 7

Which of the following ideologies advocates individual freedom, limited government, and laissez-faire economics?

A) Democratic socialism
B) Conservatism
C) Fascism
D) Classical liberalism
E) None of the above

Question 8

Political ideologies are primarily which of the following?

A) Descriptions of political reality
B) Descriptions of how politics ought to be
C) Explanations of political conflict
D) Descriptions of political history
E) Predictions of the political future

Question 9

Which of the following refers to the contemporary definition of a "liberal" in the United States?

A) Someone who supports minimal governmental intervention and personal freedom
B) Someone who supports extensive governmental intervention and policies that increase equality of condition
C) Someone who supports the nationalization of all factors of production
D) Someone who believes that a strong leader is essential
E) Someone who believes the Constitution is a flawed document

Question 10

Which of the following is constraint knowledge?

A) The more abstract and overarching concepts that establish the linkages between ideas
B) An important political fact
C) Personal beliefs about how politics ought to be
D) Knowledge of the sanctions that government can exercise on individual behavior
E) Something that prevents a person from accepting new ideas

Question 11

Which of the following generalizations is LEAST supported by research on political beliefs among the general population in most democratic countries?

A) There is relative stability in people's fundamental political beliefs.
B) The content of the beliefs is often inaccurate.
C) Political issues have high salience.
D) Short-term political opinions are often volatile.
E) A person's political beliefs are not always consistent.

Question 12

Adherents of classical liberalism particularly adhere to the belief that the role of government should be

A) to mitigate social ills.
B) limited.
C) to support a strong and effective welfare state.
D) to insure that taxes are fair.
E) to protect the country against foreign influences.

Question 13

The concepts of belief systems of the mass public and of the elite are associated with

A) William Beveridge.
B) Philip Converse.
C) Sidney Verba.
D) Adam Smith.
E) Ronald Inglehart

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT a core analytic dimension for studying an individual's belief system?

A) Salience
B) Stability
C) Optimism
D) Consistency
E) Content

Question 15

Jorge Castenada's description of the "premodern individualism in Mexican society" is an example of

A) survey research.
B) public opinion studies.
C) national character studies.
D) constraint knowledge.
E) normative theory.

Question 16

A comprehensive set of beliefs about the political world is

A) a political culture.
B) the basis of national character.
C) a political ideology.
D) composed primarily of cognitive orientations.
E) survey research.

Question 17

Micropolitics is

A) the study of political systems in small countries.
B) the study of individual and small group political behavior.
C) particularly subject to the researcher's biases.
D) the reliance on small details in the study of politics.
E) the comparison of minor political institutions.

Question 18

The ideas of the welfare state are most consistent with

A) socialism.
B) fascism.
C) nationalism.
D) conservatism.
E) classical liberalism.

Question 19

Thomas Hobbes assumed that

A) human beings are generally cooperative.
B) a strong ruler is essential to limit interpersonal violence.
C) the people have the right to question the decisions of the ruler.
D) human beings are generally irrational.
E) politics is based on the art of compromise.

Question 20

Select a particular political phenomenon and describe your cognitive, affective, and evaluative orientations toward that phenomenon. Also explain the key sources of those orientations in terms of authority, personal experience and/or science-based information.

Question 21

Assess the claim that national character analysis is little more than stereotyping, can provide no insights into political behavior, and thus has no value in understanding politics. When possible, use specific examples.

Question 22

Distinguish conservatism, classical liberalism and socialism in terms of core underlying themes on which they differ.

Question 23

Analyze the claim that the belief systems of mass publics are so full of inaccuracies and inconsistencies that we can learn little of significant about politics by studying those belief systems.

Question 24

Discuss why Samuel Huntington's ideas about a "clash of civilizations" are so controversial. What evidence would persuade you that these ideas are correct or mistaken?