Unit 2 Mastery Project
- How are political beliefs formed? Political beliefs are formed through the process of political socialization where the key sources are family, school, community, peers, and the media. All of these factors promote the interest of the peoples political belief. The main factor for people forming beliefs and opinions on the political policies is the manipulation of the media.
- How do political beliefs evolve? Average Americans do not usually have a good understanding on a point all by themselves, they tend to get help through family, community, peers, school and the most important the media. The media can convey many important messages during a campaign, but it can also persuade a person one way because of what they are saying about the other candidate.
- Know the process by which political beliefs are transmitted. Political beliefs can be transmitted through communication within your community which is a factor of political socialization. This helps more people become aware and can also pursue your peers decision. Communication is the key process of transmitting political beliefs.
- Know why US citizens hold certain beliefs about politics. Americans take a stand on what they believe is right and what they think would benefit not only them, but the city they live in as well. This is also called US citizens having a public opinion on a certain governmental issue.
- How do families, schools, and the media act to perpetuate or change political beliefs? These three factors have a huge impact on many Americans political decision, for example when a young adult is in school and they hear their teacher make a stand on an issue and then backs it up with evidence then this can change the attitude and the belief of the student. As well as school, the young adults family can either back that decision up or change the mind of the young adult by implying the family values of voting.
- Understand the ways in which political culture affects and informs political participation. Political culture is highly important because if people feel as if they do not have a say in what the government does than the political participation will go down. The culture politics can also change a persons attitude about politics because if that particular person feels as if the government has too much power then that person will spread it to their friends and soon political participation will be way down.
- Understand why individuals engage in various forms of political participation and how that participation may affect the political system. Individuals always want to be heard in the government because it makes them feel like they have control over the government. This can affect the system because if the citizens always have an eye on the government then they will be more willing to please the individuals.
- What leads citizens to differ from one another in their political beliefs and behaviors and the political consequences of these differences? (should focus on the demographic features of the American population and the different views that people hold of the political process). Citizens can have differences in their political according to the area that they live as well as the amount of income in the region they live in. In a wealthy neighborhood citizens are going to be more conservative where as in a poor neighborhood where the citizens depend on food stamps are going to be more liberal because they are dependent on the government.
- What are the group differences in political beliefs and behavior? There are many different groups that citizens can be split up in including gender, age, religion, region, and knowledge. These can lead to different political beliefs and that's where political parties come into play, also the behavior of these groups are most dependent on voter turn out. The elder people tend to vote more than the young people who are less intrigued in politics.
- How do changes in political participation affect the political system? Political participation can impact the system in a huge way, for example if the citizens have good voter turn out and are involved in every debate and campaign then the system will work better because the system will want to provide for the people.
- What role is played by party organizations, PACs, and money generally in campaigns? Party organization is essential in campaigns because if there was no distinction then there would be no debates over the issues the delegate believes in. A PAC is also an important thing because they take care of everything that would have to do on your own, like follow the other delegate and analyze their beliefs. This would be impossible without a PAC. Money plays a key role as well because the more money you have the better ads you can provide on all media.
- What roles do the groups listed above play in the electoral process? The electoral process takes a lot of money and a lot time because there are essential groups that must be apart of your campaign if you want to win. To have a successful campaign the candidate must go through many steps: exploration, announcement, presidential primaries and caucuses, nominating convention, and campaign and the general election.