Values and Ideology in American Political Culture

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Values and Ideology in American Political Culture
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See Me

• Matt Story
• Marvin Kelly
• Ryan Cole
• Cesar Ahuyon
• Ashley Bitonel
• Twana Ellis
• Daniel Fried
• Amanda Jung

• John Kantz
• Takako Kimura
• Robert Martino
• Tyler Richards
• Kimberly Rutherford
• Kenneth Sutton
• Lenis Warren

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Last Time . . .

• Discussed core values of liberty, equality, and
  popular sovereignty (democracy)
• Collectively classical liberalism
• Values basic beliefs about how the world works
  / ought to work

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Values to Ideology

• Values reflect general world-view, implications
  beyond the political
• Ideology is a cohesive set of beliefs about the
  role of government

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Modern Political Ideologies

• Libertarianism
• Modern Conservatism
• Modern Liberalism
• Statism

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Libertarianism

• Most closely tied to classical liberalism
• Emphasis on individual autonomy and
  self-determination
• Government should stay out of economic and
  social/moral sphere

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Modern Conservatism

• Government should stay out of economic sphere
• More limited notion of equality of opportunity
• Government regulation of morality is critical

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Modern Liberalism

• Government may intrude on economic sphere and,
  more generally, to create true equality of
  opportunity
• Government should allow self-determination in
  moral/social sphere

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Statism

• Not often mentioned in political discourse, but
  the predominant ideology in this class!
• Government may regulate both economics and
  morality
• Regulation justified by fairness in the process

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Class Ideology

• Political Compass
• Measures beliefs about government control over
• Economic behavior
• Personal/social/moral behavior

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Class Ideology
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Political Socialization

• Family
• Social group membership
• Education
• Prevailing political conditions

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Family

• Even w/out explicit political discourse
• Core values conveyed

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Social Group Membership

• Religion
• Race
• Gender
• Socio-economic Status
• Occupational Groups
• Regional Influences

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Education

• Civic education in elementary and secondary
  schools
• Post-secondary education

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Prevailing Political Conditions

• Mediates effects of family, group membership, and
  education

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Break
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Values ? Ideology ? Attitudes

• Values Basic principles about how the world
  works or how the world ought to work
• Ideology A coherent set of beliefs about the
  proper role of government
• Political Attitudes An individuals specific
  preference on a particular political issue
• Public Opinion An aggregate measure of peoples
  individual political attitudes on an issue or
  issues

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Why do we care?

• Popular sovereignty
• Reelection

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Where do attitudes come from?

• Ideology/Values
• Knowledge
• Self-interest

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Where do attitudes come from?

• Ideology/Values
• Socialization
• Education
• Family
• Events
• Group membership
• Knowledge
• Self-interest

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Problems with relying on public opinion

• Many people lack political knowledge
• Attitudes not ideological (no apparent pattern)
• Attitudes seem to shift from day to day
• Difficult to measure reliably

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The problem of political knowledge

• Connect values/ideology to real life preferences
• Implications/consequences of preferences

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Political Knowledge Quiz
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Who was President during the Civil War?

• Answer Abraham Lincoln
• Correct 84

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What are the two major political parties in the
U.S.?

• Answer Democrats and Republicans
• Correct 100

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In what month is the new President inaugurated?

• Answer January
• Correct 50

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How many terms may a U.S. Senator serve?

• Answer Unlimited
• Correct 28

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How many Supreme Court Justices are there?

• Answer 9
• Correct 37

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How long is a term for a member of the House of
Representatives?

• Answer 2 years
• Correct 52

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What are the first 10 Amendments to the
Constitution called?

• Answer The Bill of Rights
• Correct 93

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Who becomes President if both the President and
Vice-President die?

• Answer Speaker of the House
• Correct 36

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Who is the Governor of Texas?

• Answer Rick Perry
• Correct 82

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Who has the power to declare war?

• Answer Congress
• Correct 54

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Why are people uninformed?

• Information costs
• Mitigated by
• Education
• Easier to get information
• Political efficacy duty
• Issue publics

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Attitudes not ideological

• Frustrating for our government, but is it a
  problem?

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Attitudes Unstable

• Why?
• Most attitudes not stored depend on top of the
  head assessment
• Most regular people are pragmatists lies are
  bad, but lying to your friend about her new
  haircut is o.k.

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Miracle of Aggregation

• Solves the knowledge and instability problems
• With a large enough sample, our mistakes cancel
  each other out

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Next Class

• Paper Due
• Measuring Public Opinion
• Whats a politician to do?
• Quiz Review Sheet