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Guided Questions
1. American Beliefs and Behavior Patterns
a. What attitudes do Americans share?
b. What basic beliefs do they hold in common?
c. What kinds of conflict exist within our ideology and culture?
d. As compared with other Western democracies, in which political virtues do we seem
to excel?
e. What is significant about Putnam's concept of "social capital"?
2. The Quest for Additional Rights
a. How did original agrarian roots give support
to the idea of equality?
b. How was that concept challenged by the rise of corporations?
c. What contradiction apparently exists between unregulated capitalism and democracy?
d. What new rights did FDR sponsor for Americans?
3. What is the American Dream?
a. How do the central values of political equality
and a free market system conflict?
b. Why should the American system be described as mixed?
c. What do Americans believe about rewarding people of ability? Private property?
Inheritance?
d. What trend seems to be developing in the way American wealth is distributed between
the wealthy and the poor?
e. What tensions does this create in a society that believes in political equality?
4. Liberalism, Conservatism, and Attitudes about the Role of Government
a. In trying to define liberal and conservative
attitudes what tests apply?
b. Why are clear-cut labels hard to define?
c. How are today's liberals different than earlier ones? Contrast their attitude
toward the role of government.
d. What attitudes do liberals have toward the
possibility of progress?
e. Explain the fundamental assumptions of libertarianism,
environmentalism, and socialism.
5. Ideology, The American People, and Tolerance
a. What clear-cut differences separate consevatives
and liberals on the issues of tolerance?
b. How do they differ on civil rights and liberties?
c. Why is policy-making characterized by coalitions
rather than fixed alignments?
d. Why did the two parties target centrist/moderate
voters in the 2000 election?
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