Government and Society Question
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Course Introduction
This course explores the dynamic relationship between government institutions and the broader society they govern. Students will examine the structures, functions, and processes of government at local, national, and international levels, and analyze how policies are developed and implemented. The course delves into the ways in which social movements, public opinion, and cultural values influence governmental decision-making, as well as the impact of government actions on various social groups. Through case studies and real-world examples, students will gain a deeper understanding of the interplay between political power, civic engagement, and societal change.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding American Government 14th Edition by Susan Welch
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1046 Verified Questions
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The American People
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a republic, among the obligations of citizens is the requirement that
A) citizens vote directly for the laws
B) citizens contribute to political campaigns
C) citizens vote for representatives to make laws for them
D) all citizens would defend the country
Answer: C
Q2) What percent of Americans claim no religious affiliation?
A) 5 percent
B) 16 percent
C) 28 percent
D) over 50 percent
Answer: B
Q3) How did the Founders view majority rule?
A) all people are equal, majority should rule
B) the national Congress is immune to majority rule
C) it should be limited
D) minority rights are present, but inconsequential
Answer: C
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The case of McCulloch v. Maryland was important because it __________.
A) upheld the power of the states over the power of the national government
B) made it illegal for small banks to operate in the states
C) confirmed that the Supreme Court was the least powerful branch of government
D) established the legal basis for the supremacy of national authority over the states
Answer: D
Q2) What is one major conceptual change of the evolving Constitution that is quite different from the one drafted by the Founders?
Answer: One major conceptual change of the evolving Constitution that is quite different from the one drafted by the Founders is the expansion of civil rights and liberties. The Founders' Constitution did not originally include explicit protections for individual rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. However, through the addition of amendments, court interpretations, and societal changes, the evolving Constitution has incorporated these fundamental rights and expanded protections for marginalized groups, such as women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This shift reflects a broader understanding of equality and justice that has developed over time, making the evolving Constitution quite different from its original form.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) After 1937, Supreme Court decisions approving New Deal legislation favored _____________.
A) state-centered federalism
B) nation-centered federalism
C) both nation-centered and state-centered federalism
D) hybrid federalism
Answer: C
Q2) Those defending __________ federalism won the American Civil War.
A) state-centered
B) nation-centered
C) dual
D) judicial-centered
Answer: B
Q3) Presidents ___________ endorse(d) the states-as-laboratories form of policy experimentation.
A) Johnson and Nixon
B) Reagan and Bush (senior)
C) Clinton and Obama
D) Nixon and Ford
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Commitment to stability by positively depicting government and the status quo is often fostered by __________.
A) money
B) the media
C) peers
D) schools
Q2) Public opinion is __________.
A) best ascertained through straw polls
B) a collection of individual opinions about a matter of general interest
C) typically unified when it comes to domestic issues
D) more likely to be radical in "blue" states
Q3) Describe how and why the Literary Digest failed in their predictions in the 1936 presidential election.
Q4) How does political socialization support the status quo? Give specific examples of childhood socialization. Under what conditions might political socialization not support the status quo?
Q5) What is political socialization?
Q6) How do the schools influence socialization?
Q7) Describe how the family impacts political socialization.
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Chapter 5: News Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) The mainstream media usually toe the government line in their coverage of __________.
A) state and local matters
B) national issues
C) foreign affairs
D) national issues and foreign affairs
Q2) CBS attempted to break a story, during the 2004 presidential election, with documents, later deemed forgeries, about George W. Bush's service in the National Guard. High-interest stories like this reported by news organizations before their rivals can publish them are called __________.
A) leaks
B) scoops
C) instant news
D) yellow journalism
Q3) Pressure to make a profit and the need to attract an audience can lead to _________ in the media.
A) ideological bias
B) racial bias
C) traditional institutional bias
D) commercial bias
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Chapter 6: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) Analyze the reason for the support of some large corporations for healthcare reform and the opposition to it of some small businesses.
Q2) A main interest of labor unions is to __________.
A) protect workers' wages
B) channel money primarily to Republicans
C) protect the jobs of company executives
D) ensure the safety of abortion clinics
Q3) Some evangelicals have edged to the left ideologically on some issues and, therefore, are more prone to support __________.
A) the Republican Party's politcal agenda
B) environmental protections
C) prohibitions against same-sex marriage
D) higher taxes on the poor
Q4) Examples of interest groups that formed before the Civil War included
A) associations representing the nonprofit sector
B) trade unions and business associations
C) abolitionist and proslavery groups
D) associations of elderly persons seeking protections for Social Security
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Chapter 7: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the single-member district with a winner-take-all system, the __________.
A) one who receives the most votes is elected from a district
B) party that gets 51 percent takes all of the available seats
C) number of seats a party gets is in proportion to its percentage of the vote
D) candidate with the most votes gets to determine the remaining seats
Q2) Between 1948 and the 1960s, the Democratic Party's strength was hurt by the alienation of white southerners over __________.
A) how to fight inflation
B) appropriate strategies to fight the Cold War
C) how to stop the growth of the budget deficit
D) civil rights issues
Q3) The Republican Party is __________; whereas, the Democratic Party is __________.
A) blue/red
B) right of center/left of center
C) left of center/right of center
D) public/private
Q4) How did political parties as an institution rise and eventually decline in influence?
Q5) What are the three components that make up the membership of a political party?
Q6) What is responsible party government?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do candidates focus few resources on "safe" states?
Q2) What factors does a presidential candidate consider when choosing his/her vice presidential running mate?
Q3) Congress attempted to bar Wyoming from the Union because it had granted the right to vote to __________.
A) women
B) property less white men
C) white males
D) men
Q4) The Electoral College __________.
A) is an example of direct democracy
B) means that the U.S. directly elects its president
C) gives small states more influence in electing the president
D) gives large states with great populations little power to elect the president
Q5) Noncompetitive districts lead to reduced voter turnout and are a result of what?
A) gerrymandering
B) social rootedness
C) the governor
D) the media
Q6) Who could vote under the original draft of the U.S. Constitution?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why has the public supported Congress less than the other two branches?
Q2) C-SPAN viewers are considered __________.
A) highly educated
B) strongly conservative
C) extremely liberal
D) poorly informed
Q3) What congressional agency checks on the efficiency and effectiveness of executive agencies?
A) the Federal Communications Commission
B) the Congressional Research Office
C) the Government Accountability Office
D) the Congressional Budgeting Office
Q4) What is meant by "standing for" representation?
Q5) _________ minimize(s) friction and encourage(s) civility both on and off the floor of Congress.
A) Ethics codes
B) Seniority rules
C) Parliamentary rules
D) Informal norms
Q6) What does Congress do? Describe three main functions.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) A(n) __________ is a unilateral command issued by the president with the full force of law.
A) franking perogative
B) executive privilege
C) executive order
D) presidential prerogative
Q2) James A. Baker, former chief of staff under Ronald Reagan, famously said, "There is no such thing as _________ outside of the office itself," when assessing the correlation between presidential effectiveness and practical knowledge of government.
A) executive privilege
B) presidential experience
C) presidential diplomacy
D) White House leadership
Q3) To gauge the public's views, Franklin Roosevelt made use of __________,
A) radio
B) fireside chats
C) straw polls
D) opinion polls
Q4) Explain two of the president's legislative powers.
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Chapter 11: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What law deals mainly with individual and interest group oversight of the federal bureaucracy?
A) the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946
B) the Voting Rights Act of 1965
C) the Judiciary Act of 1789
D) the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921
Q2) The Department of Agriculture is a prime example of an agency that __________.
A) is shrinking in power
B) regulates too often
C) Congress has deauthorized
D) conducts research
Q3) The Civil Service Commission _____________.
A) was created by Andrew Jackson to help him fill government jobs with members of his party
B) implements the Ethics in Government Act
C) regulates and presides over the federal government's employment system
D) administers the federal government's merit system without giving anyone, except for the most skilled, an advantage
Q4) Describe three laws that keep the federal bureaucracy visible and open.
Q5) How can the federal bureaucracy expand or shrink?
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Chapter 12: The Judiciary
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Q1) The threat of judicial review ____________.
A) has little impact on legislative action
B) influences legislative content
C) is a concern at the federal level but not the state level
D) can be overridden by presidential mandate
Q2) On the Supreme Court, the judges in the minority write a(n) __________.
A) amendment
B) concurring opinion
C) dissenting opinion
D) pending statute
Q3) What is the difference between civil cases and criminal cases?
Q4) How does one become a member of the federal courts?
Q5) How would you characterize the Marshall Court?
Q6) When judges make law, they ____________.
A) usually tell government what it cannot do
B) often start with no principles or rules to guide them
C) usually tell government what it must do
D) are indifferent to criticism and political reaction
Q7) Describe the issues of concern to the Warren Court.
Q8) What is the significance of McCulloch v. Maryland?
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Chapter 13: Civil Liberties
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Q1) Plea bargaining __________.
A) increases access to government witnesses
B) reduces due process rights
C) involves the uncertainty of jury trials
D) takes advantage of rights to jury trials
Q2) The Supreme Court originally applied the Bill of Rights to the actions of _________.
A) the people
B) the federal government
C) localities
D) state governments
Q3) Explain the concept of "natural rights."
Q4) Which of the following rights does the Sixth Amendment guarantee?
A) the right to plea bargain
B) the right to free religious expression
C) the right to free speech
D) the right to a jury trial
Q5) How do the exclusionary rule and Miranda warnings affect police work?
Q6) Why are expressive and intimate associations permitted to exclude others?
Q7) What is meant by separation of church and state?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is racial profiling? Does its effectiveness as a law enforcement tool mitigate its effects on civil rights?
Q2) The Civil Rights Act of 1964 __________.
A) upheld de jure segregation
B) upheld de facto segregation
C) provided federal aid to school districts that continued to segregate
D) cut off federal aid to school districts that continued to segregate
Q3) For its first two decades, the NAACP was led by sociologist ____________.
A) W. E. B. Du Bois
B) Thurgood Marshall
C) Homer Plessy
D) Frederick Douglass
Q4) What was the impact of the Equal Pay Act?
Q5) In the Brown case, the Supreme Court ordered schools to desegregate
A) "immediately"
B) "soon"
C) "when possible"
D) "with all deliberate speed"
Q6) Who are the Ku Klux Klan? How did they impact southern society?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Extension 1: Focus On: Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Capitalism __________ promote(s) equality of opportunity.
A) never
B) may not
C) always
D) refuses to
Q2) What are the differences between a budget deficit and a debt?
Q3) The pay-as-you-go system was established under which president?
A) Ronald Reagan
B) George H.W. Bush
C) Bill Clinton
D) Barack Obama
Q4) What is the "misery index"?
Q5) When the 2009 congressional stimulus package ended, it was deemed a failure because __________.
A) it did not include tax breaks
B) state and local governments laid off workers
C) it resulted in a long-term boost in employment
D) it was larger relative to the size of the economy
Q6) What is Keynesian economics?
Q7) Describe the partisan debate over revising the U.S. tax code.
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Chapter 16: Extension 2: Focus on: Environmental Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Obama administration refers to global warming as __________.
A) climate advancement
B) climate regression
C) globalization
D) global climate disruption
Q2) Explain some public perceptions of global warming. How are these feelings generational?
Q3) The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion resulted in the public __________.
A) feeling indifferent
B) accepting global warming
C) dissenting against offshore drilling
D) wanting improved safety and protection standards
Q4) What does the bubble concept allow companies to do?
A) set their standard for emission of pollutants
B) place a bubble over their smokestacks
C) exceed limits on emissions
D) exceed limits on emissions under EPA's standards
Q5) Explain the differences between the bubble concept and cap-and-trade. What is an advantage and a disadvantage of each to industry?
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Chapter 17: Extension 3: Focus On: Foreign Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The noninvolvement of the Unitied States in the affairs of other nations outside the Americas is also called __________.
A) isolationism
B) soft power
C) hard power
D) physical security
Q2) Economic, military and diplomatic information is gathered by __________ U.S. intelligence agencies.
A) 6
B) 10
C) 16
D) 23
Q3) What term refers to secret funding spent annually on intelligence?
A) pork barrel funding
B) the black budget
C) secret spending
D) the black bank
Q4) How does Congress impact foreign policy?
Q5) Briefly compare Nixon's and Clinton's views on foreign policy.
Q6) What were the main lessons of the Vietnam War for the United States?
Page 19
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Chapter 18: Extension 4: Focus On: Health Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the single-payer system?
Q2) What are some characteristics of the existing health care system?
A) low costs
B) efficiency
C) adequate quality
D) limited coverage
Q3) What era in American history introduced the National Quarantine Act to prevent the spread of contagious diseases?
A) 1790s
B) 1820s
C) 1870s
D) 1930s
Q4) What is the major role of the PHS?
Q5) Explain some advantages and disadvantages of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Q6) The federal government has been providing Americans personal health care since __________.
A) 1798
B) 1860
C) 1933
D) 2012
Page 20
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