Exam 13: Government, Political Power, and Social Movements

If you were making a society from scratch, would you develop a participatory democracy, a liberal democracy, or a monarchy? Why would you choose this political system? What would be its key strength and its key weakness?

Design an intervention that would improve voter turnout in the United States. Explain how your intervention is based in sociological research findings from the chapter.

The United States is a complex nation-state with many social problems and active social movements, but despite this complexity, sociologists would still call it a sovereign state. What characteristic of the United States classifies it as a sovereign state?

Is the United States facing a legitimation crisis? Why or why not? What social indicators are important to monitor when assessing the health of democracy?

Compare and contrast revolutions and social movements. Include one to two key points of similarity and one to two key points of difference.

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was an attempt to draw attention to the inequalities of wealth and income in the United States. Despite the use of disruptions that promoted conflict and, in a few cases, some violent actions, the OWS effort as a social movement can be distinguished from a revolution due to:

Some in the United States see parties like the Green Party or Libertarian Party as a detrimental part of a major election cycle, siphoning off votes from their close ideological "cousins" and potentially costing the election. Sociologically, however, the presence of more than two parties-a multiparty system-is vital in order to:

The basic meaning of democracy is from the Greek and literally means "people" (demos) and "rule" (kratos). The major problem with this definition is that:

When listing countries in the order of money spent on the military, the United States spends more than nearly all other countries in the world combined. The public figure who warned the country to beware of the expanding military and the industries that cater to it was:

A politician working from a pluralist theory of modern democracy would most likely:

If Alain Touraine's concept of historicity influenced a new social movement, how would the new movement relate to Rosa Park's action in 1955?

What does it mean to say, in Benedict Anderson's terms, that a nation-state is an imagined community?

Max Weber theorized that for an effective democracy in modern, large, bureaucratic states, a country must have:

Why does relative deprivation inspire revolution? In your answer, summarize James Davies's theory.

What would democratic elitism theory predict about the possibility for direct democracy in the United States? Is direct democracy possible? Why or why not?

Theda Skocpol believes that revolutions are not the direct result of a deliberate pursuit of interests but instead are ambiguous in nature and are best seen as _______________ linked to the more limited aims of different groups.

Why did the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission change the concept of what we define as an interest group?

The United States is a liberal democracy because:

Which characteristic defines today's LGBTQ+ social movements as "new"?

What is a legitimation crisis? What would be one warning sign that U.S. democracy is experiencing a legitimation crisis?