Sociology

Sociology Study Guide

• Democracy: Form of government based on participation of the population; ultimate authority is vest in the people. In this type of government, decision are based on the “majority rule,” and participating in government is considered a right of every citizen. There are three main types of democracy: • True: All citizens have direct participation in government. • Representative: Citizens can vote for leaders to represent them in government. There is no guarantee that those representatives will act as their constituents wouldwant. • Liberal: Supports the protections of individual rights. Political Process Political participation by every citizen in the political process is believed to make people more tolerant, better informed, and better equipped to self-govern. Many believe that political participation by all is detrimental to societal health as people are generally uninformed and untrained which leads themto support governmental projects which lead only to an overburdened government. Political activity has been decreasing over the last decades. Voting, the least demanding activity, has seen this decrease as well. The exact reason is unknown, but it is probably an amalgamation of several reasons like registration processes that are more complex, gender, age, frequency of elections, etc.) Three typesof such political activity are: • Gladiatorial: Those who hold office, campaign actively, and in other ways have a high-level of involvement. • Transitional: Those who attend meetings and contact officials. • Spectator: Those who have little involvement, perhaps voting and displaying a bumper sticker. Political parties are organizations made up of people with similar beliefs whose aim is to gain legitimate control over government. In democracy, political parties play an important role, as they connect voters to government and illustrate alternative policy options. As votes come in, they also symbolize public opinion on a number of issues. Political parties also recruit and offer candidates for public office. Interest Groups seek to influence government policies and public opinion. These groups canbe small, large, temporary, or permanent. They all have the same goal, however, which is to gain access to those in power and influence those who vote. Many large interest groups use lobbying , a tactic that refers to attempting to persuade a decision-maker. Lobbyists are the voice of thesegroups. There are several types of special interest groups. • Public interest groups: Their goal is to represent the public good. • Single-issue groups: They concentrate on one narrowly defined interest. • Industry groups: Their goal is to represent large organizations.

©2018

Achieve Test Prep

Page 119

of 172