1. Chapter 1
American Political
Culture

2. What Americans Think About
Government
Do you trust government to do the right thing?

3. What Americans Think About
Government
• Americans expect a lot from
their government.
– Keep us safe and yet protect
individual liberty and privacy.
– Support the weakest and yet
keep taxes low.
– Sustain a healthy environment
and still promote business
growth.
– Keep government small, yet

4. Trust in Government

5. What Americans Think About
Government
• Does it matter if Americans trust their
government?
– Yes
• American government is predicated on a
citizenry that:
– is informed and active,
– keeps leaders aware of their preferences, and
– holds elected officials accountable at elections.
• Trust is a prerequisite to engaged democracy.

6. What Americans Think About
Government
• Efficacy: perception that one has the
ability to influence government and politics
– 1960: 25 percent of those polled said elected
officials didn’t care what citizens like
themselves thought
– 2009: 59 percent thought the same

7. Political Efficacy

8. Citizenship: Knowledge and
Participation
• Political Knowledge
– People will not believe they can affect
government if they don’t know much about it.
• Americans are not very knowledgeable
about their government.
– Just 48 percent know that only U.S. citizens
can vote in a national election.

9. Citizenship: Knowledge and
Participation
• Citizenship: in theory, refers to
“enlightened political engagement”
– Citizens must be aware of the facts and what
can be done about a situation.
– Citizens must be willing to take action to solve
community problems.
– Not to be confused with formal definitions
(native born, naturalized)

10. Citizenship: Knowledge and
Participation
• Necessity of Political Knowledge
– Citizens must understand how politics works if
they are to shape outcomes.
– Knowledge of process required extends far
beyond names and dates
• Citizens need political knowledge to
understand what they can expect of their
government.

11. Citizenship: Knowledge and
Participation

12. What Americans Know about
Government

13. Government
• Government: institutions and procedures
through which a territory and its people
are ruled
• Two defining features of government:
1. Who governs?
2. How much power is granted to the
government?

14. Government Types
• Autocracy: government by a single,
nonelected leader.
• Oligarchy: government by a small group
that is not accountable to the citizens.
• Democracy: a system that allows the
citizens to select their leaders.

15. Government Types
• Totalitarian governments recognize no
limits on their authority.
• Authoritarian governments recognize no
limits on their authority, but they are
constrained by other institutions, such as
business or a church.
• Constitutional governments are limited
both in what they can do (substantive
limits) and the methods they can employ

16. Forms of Government

17. Forms of Government

18. Politics
• Politics: conflict over the leadership,
structure, and policies of governments.
– Representative democracy (republic)
• Governments are run by elected officials who
represent the interests of their constituents.
– Direct democracy
• Citizens themselves vote on all legislation.
– town meetings, referenda

19. Politics
• Pluralism
– Although we vote and engage in many other
activities as individuals, much of American
politics involves groups.
– Groups help disparate individuals link
together and pool resources to express
common interests.
– Many of the ways Americans connect to their
government is through groups.
• Political parties, professional associations, etc.

20. Who Are Americans?
• America is an immigrant nation, which
means that the government sets policy to
determine whom it allows in and who is
eligible for citizenship.
• This decision is highly political.
• Has changed many times over the course
of American history

21. WHO ARE AMERICANS?
An Increasingly Diverse Nation
CHAPTER 1

22. WHO ARE AMERICANS?
White
88%
Black 12%
Other 0.5%
White
81%
Black 19%
Native American
Other
2 or more races
1%
1%
2%
White
Black
Hispanic
Asian
64%
13%
16%
5%
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov (accessed 8/16/12).
Race
= 1 million people
TOTAL
POPULATION =
1900*
75,994,575
1790*
3,929,214
* The 1790 census does not accurately reflect the population because it only
counted blacks and whites. It did not include Native American or other
groups. The 1900 census did not count Hispanic Americans.
2010
308,745,538

23. WHO ARE AMERICANS?
Geography
1790* 1900* 2010
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov (accessed 8/16/12).
Northeast
South
Midwest
West
28%
33%
35%
6%
28%
6% 36%
33%
Northeast
South
50%
50%
50%
50%
Northeast
South
Midwest
West
18%
37%
22%
23%
18%
23% 22%
27%

24. WHO ARE AMERICANS?
Age
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov (accessed 8/16/12).
1900* 2010
0 – 19
20 – 44
45 – 64
65 +
27%
34%
26%
13%
0 – 19
20 – 44
45 – 64
65 +
44%
38%
14%
4%

25. Immigration and Ethnic Diversity

26. Who Are Americans?
• The first census did not count Native
Americans.
• Until World War II, Americans saw
biological distinctions between people of
different ethnicities.
• Immigration policy was shaped to admit
“desirable” races.
– Until 1870, nonwhites could not naturalize.
– Chinese Exclusion Act 1882–1943

27. Who Are Americans?

28. Who Are Americans?
• Twenty-First Century Americans
– 1965, Congress lifted limitations on
immigration set in place in the 1920s
– Resulted in new waves of immigration from
Asia and Latin America
• 2010 Population (U.S. Census)
– White: 64%
– Asian: 5%
– Black: 13%
– Latino: 16%

29. Twenty-First Century Americans

30. Who Are Americans?
by Continent of Origin (

31. Who Are Americans?
• Age distribution of the population can have
a profound impact on politics.
– Different age groups have very different
needs for public services.
– Different age groups vote differently.

32. American Political Culture
• If Americans do not share a common
blood line, or religious or ethnic heritage,
what unites the nation?
– Liberty
– Equality
– Democracy

33. American Political Culture
• Liberty: freedom from
governmental control
– Personal freedom
– Economic freedom

34. American Political Culture
• Equality
– Equality of outcome
– Equality of opportunity
– Political equality

35. American Political Culture
• Democracy
– People choose their rulers and have some
say over what those rulers do.
– When ultimate power rests with the citizenry,
this is called “popular sovereignty.”
– In America, the people are sovereign, and
majority rules, but the individual rights of the
minority are still protected.

36. Liberty, Equality, and
Democracy in Practice
• Liberty
– People are typically not free to harm others.
– Should they be free to harm themselves?
– What about protecting minors?
– Or protecting natural resources for future
generations?
– What values need to be protected, even at the
expense of freedom of speech or religion?

37. Liberty, Equality, and
Democracy in Practice
• Equality
– Equality of access to public institutions
– Equality of opportunity in private life
• How do we rectify past official discrimination?
– Equality of outcomes

38. Liberty, Equality, and
Democracy in Practice
• Democracy
– America’s history has been one of increasing
suffrage for more and more groups.
– This has meant large swaths of the polity did
not have the right to participate for most of the
nation’s history.
– Even today, participation in American
democratic institutions is low.

39. Equality and Public Opinion