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100. What is the gross domestic product (GDP)? Discuss how it has
changed in the United States in the last 50 years. Do you believe
the GDP will continue on this trajectory? Why or why not?
1. Deine gross domestic product as the total output of all
economic activity of a country, including goods and
services.
2. Discuss the fact that, in the United States, the overall
trajectory in GDP has been one of increased growth; for
example, between 1960 and 2013, GDP grew more than
500 percent.
3. Support the belief that this trend will or will not
continue using speciic examples such as Daniel Bell’s
postindustrial argument.
Topic: How Much We Own
Learning Objective: LO 4.5: Describe the importance of
income, wealth, occupation, and social class in American
politics.
Page Reference: 122 – 123
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
101. Distinguish between the “melting pot” and “salad bowl”
concepts of U.S. diversity. Which metaphor is more applicable to
your community? Why?
1. Describe the melting pot concept of diversity as the
process of immigrant assimilation into U.S. culture and the
sharing of common political values such as individualism
and majority rule.
2. Contrast the melting pot with the idea of the salad bowl
where diferences are encouraged and are seen as
enhancing the whole.
3. Apply one of the metaphors to the student’s community,
explaining how it emphasizes either assimilation or
diversity.
Topic: Unity in a Land of Diversity
Learning Objective: LO 4.6: Evaluate the degree to which
America has achieved a measure of unity in a land of diversity.
Page Reference: 124
127
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
102. How does economic inequality afect political equality in the
United States? Do you believe the current state of inequality in
America is problematic for democracy? Why or why not?
1. Explain how economic inequality afects political
equality by marginalizing the voices of the poor in
American politics, thus creating an uneven playing ield.
2. Explain whether or not the student believes that the
high levels of inequality are problematic for democracy,
drawing upon either the argument noted above, for
example, or the idea that economic inequality is a natural
outcome of the capitalist system and has no real efect on
political equality.
Topic: Introduction
Learning Objective: Introduction
Page Reference: 102 – 103
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
103. Why do social scientists study demographics? Discuss why
demographic indings are so important to those running for
political oice.
1. Explain the importance of studying demographics,
including the fact that demographic features such as age,
income, occupation, geographic location, and social class,
among others, inluence how people participate in and
understand politics.
2. Discuss how politicians use demographic information to
help target their messages to speciic groups of people to
increase their odds of electoral success.
Topic: Who We Are
Learning Objective: LO 4.4: Analyze how such social and
demographic factors as race and ethnicity, religion, gender,
family structures, education, and age afect American politics.
Page Reference: 110
Skill Level: Analyze It
128
Diiculty Level: Diicult
104. Should we use random sampling rather than attempt to count all
households in the next census? Why or why not? Include the
beneits and problems associated with each method in your
answer.
1. Explain the ways we count citizens in the census, noting
the diferences between trying to count all the households
and using a random sample and why the student believes
we should use one method over the other.
2. Discuss how random sampling would have produced a
more accurate count of inner-city Hispanics and African
Americans in the most recent census, which might have
meant more representation for those groups and a
possible loss of seats in the House for Republicans.
3. Explain the diiculty of random sampling in light of the
constitutional requirement of an “actual enumeration.”
Topic: Who We Are
Learning Objective: LO 4.4: Analyze how such social and
demographic factors as race and ethnicity, religion, gender,
family structures, education, and age afect American politics.
Page Reference: 114
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
105. What are the special concerns of older citizens of the United
States? How are these relected in political participation?
1. Discuss how Americans having longer life expectancies
and the larger proportion of people over the age of 65
have increased the demand for medical care, retirement
beneits, and a host of other age-related services.
2. Explain how older Americans are both more politically
aware and more likely to vote than other age
demographics, with their votes being especially important
in speciic areas of the United States, such as Florida.
Topic: Who We Are
129
Learning Objective: LO 4.4: Analyze how such social and
demographic factors as race and ethnicity, religion, gender,
family structures, education, and age afect American politics.
Page Reference: 119 – 120
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
Essay Questions
106. Explain how geography afects politics in the United States. Be
sure to include speciic illustrations of the diferences among
regions/areas and the reasons for the political choices of voters
in those places.
1. Explain how American politics is afected by geography
due to the sectional groupings of states that have emerged
over our political history.
2. Discuss the diferent groupings of states, such as the
South, the Bible Belt, and the Rust Belt, and how they
have diferent political and economic interests.
3. Explain how these diferences materialize in politics—
for example, how shifts in population have afected
reapportionment and representation in the House of
Representatives; how federal land ownership in the Rocky
Mountain West creates tensions between the federal
government and the various state governments; and how
historical tensions over race in the South continue to
afect politics.
4. Provide a clear and efective conclusion.
Topic: Geography and National Identity; Where We Live
Learning Objective: LO 4.2: Assess the role of geography in
building a national identity. LO 4.3: Evaluate the importance of
where we live on American politics.
Page Reference: 105, 107 – 109
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
107. Explain why French commentator Alexis de Tocqueville said that
the United States had “no great wars, inancial crises, invasions,
or conquests to fear.” Does this remain true? Why or why not?
130
1. Explain how, in making those statements, de Tocqueville
was referring to the geographically large and politically
isolated nature of the United States.
2. Discuss how America’s geographic isolation allowed it
to develop relatively free from the interference of other
major powers.
3. Discuss how the United States has been relatively safe
from attack within its continental borders, with rare
exceptions, those being the War of 1812 and the terrorist
strikes at the World Trade Center in 1993 and 2001.
4. Explain how America’s geographic isolation may be less
important because of the changing nature of threats
(terrorists) and advances in technology.
5. Present an argument as to whether de Tocqueville’s
observation remains correct in light of the previous points.
6. Provide a clear and efective conclusion.
Topic: Geography and National Identity
Learning Objective: LO 4.2: Assess the role of geography in
building a national identity.
Page Reference: 105
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
108. Starting with the Civil War, describe the political evolution of
the South and its current political trends. What was the main
catalyst for change in the South? How did this change occur?
What is the political character of the South today? What would
you tell a national political candidate to expect from the South
in the near future?
1. Discuss how the South has historically had a common
political identity that is distinct from that of the North due
in part to competing economic interests, and that
secession and the Civil War helped to reinforce those
diferences.
2. Explain how Lincoln’s action of emancipating the slaves
and the experience of Reconstruction transformed the
South into a reliably Democratic region.
3. Explain how the South is becoming increasingly less
distinct due to changing economic patterns and an
131
increase in the number of people moving to the South
from other regions of the United States.
4. Explain how these factors have also contributed to the
shift in partisan loyalties of southerners, beginning
roughly in the 1960s, from Democratic to Republican at all
levels of government.
5. Discuss how a national political candidate can expect
the South in the years ahead to remain solidly Republican.
6. Provide a clear and efective conclusion.
Topic: Where We Live
Learning Objective: LO 4.3: Evaluate the importance of where
we live on American politics.
Page Reference: 107 – 108
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Diiculty Level: Diicult
109. Distinguish between cross-cutting and reinforcing cleavages,
and discuss which best describes the United States. What types
of cleavages do you see in American society today? Predict what
might happen with these cleavages in the years ahead and give
examples.
1. Explain the diference between a cross-cutting cleavage
(divisions in society that cut across demographics) and a
reinforcing cleavage (divisions in society that reinforce
one another, making groups more similar).
2. Discuss that while American society has both types of
cleavages, in general there are more of one kind than the
other—for example, economic, class, and racial
diferences may divide us more than consensus on political
values such as liberty and democracy unite us.
3. Predict the trajectory of both cross-cutting and
reinforcing cleavages in American society for the future,
discussing which are likely to get stronger or become
more prevalent and why. Speciically refer to issues such
as growing income inequality and heightened racial
tensions, or the commitment to democracy, the distrust of
government, and the belief in American exceptionalism.
4. Provide a clear and efective conclusion.
Topic: Introduction
Learning Objective: Introduction
132
Page Reference: 104
Skill Level: Analyze It
Diiculty Level: Diicult
110. Imagine that you are a diferent gender or race, or both. How
would that change your outlook on America and your access to
the American Dream? Would it change your political views,
where you live, your income, and what kind of education you
would get? Why or why not? What else might change in your
life? Support your answers with facts and examples.
1. Discuss the challenges faced by women and people of
color in the United States, for example, struggles for
political and economic equality.
2. Explain how the change in perspective might change
the student’s perception of equality and equality of
opportunity in America by making it seem harder or
easier.
3. Discuss how it could change other aspects of the
student’s life—for example, the student might cite the fact
that more women and people of color live in poverty and
sufer discrimination in employment and education.
4. Explain how it could afect the student’s views, using
examples such as the fact that women and minorities tend
to support the Democratic Party over the Republican
Party.
5. Provide a clear and efective conclusion.
Topic: Who We Are
Learning Objective: LO 4.4: Analyze how such social and
demographic factors as race and ethnicity, religion, gender,
family structures, education, and age afect American politics.
Page Reference: 110 – 113, 116
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
Diiculty Level: Diicult
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