However, affirmative action does reveal a rift in American political culture. Equality has always been an endemic American value, touted in the Constitution and branded as a key feature of American life. Yet diversity has recently become a keyword in American political culture. Preserving both equality and diversity has become the most current political challenge in the United States and this challenge is encapsulated in the debate over affirmative action.
Affirmative action suggests that equality has not always been a reality for Americans even if the word is embedded in the Constitution. Historical fact supports the point-of-view that non-white Americans have not experienced equality in the ways that privileged people do. Even though discrimination not as tolerated in American society as it was in the 1950s, some residual effects of racism remain in American culture. Enough residual effects of racism exist to prompt some voters to believe that affirmative action politics are required to promote the core ideal of equality.
However, affirmative action is also promoted as a method of increasing the level of diversity in political institutions as well as in social institutions like universities and corporations. A diverse population yields a plurality of political opinions that can make political culture more complicated but more representative of the whole population. In other words, diversity in politics can help prevent a tyranny of the majority. One of the ways diversity has been squelched in American politics is by what can easily be called an elitist political culture. Elected officials become powerful not just because of their race or their gender but because of the increased social capital gleaned from being well connected among the wealthy and powerful elite. Poor Americans, no matter what their race, have fewer opportunities to explore positions of power as viable career options because they have less access to social capital. Affirmative action has...
Political Socialization Almost every individual in today's society has a set of political beliefs or values, but most of us hardly ever pause to think why we have such beliefs and how we have acquired them. Are they our own ideas or have we been influenced by others in our thinking? Most political scientists are of the opinion that people are not born with political ideas, nor do we manufacture them,
Domestically, Novosti disseminated information on life in other countries and on life in the Soviet Union. All of these institutional structures fell under the authority of the Party. The television system in the Soviet Union was centrally controlled through the State Committee for Tele- vision and Radio (Gostelradio), which coordinated the communication of the ideological message sent down from above. The reorganization and elevation of this committee to the all-union
India China Political System, Environment, Political Structure, Function The Indian political system, structure, and function is much like that of the UK, although it also resembles the U.S. In some ways. The Indian political structure has a President, typically a ceremonial role however; it much resembles the British monarch. In the role of President, the head of state advises members of the Parliament, and may serve as an advocate for the people.
A change of leadership and divisive social forces might pressure such hatreds into re-erupting, but these hatreds are still historical 'products.' A balance between history and psychology is needed to fully understand why mass political atrocities occur. A diffusion of responsibility during the action such as a war or a collective lynching can be a facilitating factor, but the social and historical context must be acknowledged. An authority that validates
Following are Hofstede's four categories and what they measure: Power Distance (PD) is the "extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" (Hofstede 1998) with a small PD meaning more equality in the society, and a large PD meaning less. Individualism (ID) defines whether the society expects people to look after themselves or not. Its opposite is
Until recently, my political awareness was limited to what I read about or heard around me. Young people are impressionable, and I formed my opinions as amalgamations of what my parents believed, and what I overheard my friends parents say too. The news media, and celebrities I admire also had a strong influence on how I would frame my thinking. All these agents of socialization—my family, the media, my teachers,
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