Americans share a political culture (27)—common values (27) and beliefs, or normative (28) ideas about how life should be lived, that draw them together. The U.S. political culture emphasizes procedural guarantees and individualism (28), the idea that individuals know what is best for themselves. The core values of American culture are democracy, freedom, and equality, all defined through a procedural, individualistic lens.
Within the context of our shared political culture, Americans have divergent beliefs and opinions, called ideologies (30), about political and economic affairs. Generally these ideologies are referred to as conservative (31) and liberal (31), but we can be more specific. Depending on their views about the role of government in the economy and in establishing the social order, most Americans can be defined as one of the following: economic liberals (31); economic conservatives (32), including libertarians (32); social liberals (32), including communitarians (32); or social conservatives (32). Others may support authoritarian populism (35), a movement whose underlying values are not democratic. In a two-party political system like ours, it can be hard for either party to maintain the support of a majority when ideologies are so diverse.
How to Use the Themes and Features in This Book
The goal of this book is to teach critical thinking (37) about American politics using the tools of analysis (37) and evaluation (37). We will analyze how American politics works through the framework of our definition of politics—who gets power and resources, and how they get them. We will evaluate how well American politics works by focusing on the opportunities and challenges of citizenship.
Descriptions of Images and Figures
Back to Figure
A visual depiction of various economic systems on a spectrum of complete government control to no government control. From left to right: Socialist countries, such as Cuba and North Korea, are represented on the far left with economies that are completely owned and controlled by the government. These countries offer substantive guarantees. Next are social democracies, such as Sweden and Norway, with privately owned businesses that are under extensive government control. These countries offer substantive and procedural guarantees. Next are countries with a form of regulated capitalism, like the United States and Great Britain, where there is only some government control over private businesses. These countries provide procedural guarantees. The far right represents the concept of laissez-faire capitalism, or no government control, of which there are no real-world examples. In general, the more socialist the country, the more substantive guarantees are in place.
Back to Figure
A visual depiction of various political systems on a spectrum of less government control to more government control. Moving from top to bottom:
Anarchy: No government or manmade laws; individuals do as they please. There are no real-world examples.
Nonauthoritarian system (such as democracy): Individuals (citizens) decide how to live their lives. Government role is limited to procedural guarantees of individual rights.
Examples: United States, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, India
Authoritarian system: Government decides how individuals (subjects) should live their lives and imposes a substantive vision. Examples: China North Korea, Cuba, Saudi Arabia
In general, the more control the government has or the more substantive guarantees in place, the less individual power is left to the citizens.
Back to Figure
A visual representation of the different combinations of political and economic systems. Economic systems are displayed on a horizontal spectrum of more to less governmental control, and political systems are displayed on a similar vertical spectrum. The spectrums overlap in the center to make quadrants of different styles of government. The top left quadrant represents communist democracies, a system that embraces personal freedom and a collectively owned economy. There are no real-world examples of this system. The top right quadrant represents advanced industrial democracies, systems that support personal freedom within a moderately regulated free-market economy. Examples of this type of system include Great Britain, Japan, and the United States. The bottom right quadrant represents authoritarian capitalism, systems that allow for a market economy but highly regulate individual behavior. Examples of this type of system include Singapore and China. The bottom left quadrant represents totalitarian systems, in which the government controls all economic and individual behavior. Examples include the former Soviet Union and North Korea.
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A cartoon depicting a messy office desk with a caption reading “vintage social networking.” Various arrows identify traditional office objects and describe their modern social networking counterparts. For example, the telephone is labeled “Skype.”
Other office objects included are as follows:
A clipped comic strip is labeled “reddit.”
A window is labeled “YouTube.”
A cork board with various clippings is labeled “Pinterest.”
A Rolodex is labeled “LinkedIn.”
A globe is labeled “foursquare.”
Two picture frames with family photos are labeled “Instagram” and “Imgur.”
A pencil and a piece of paper with handwriting are labeled “WordPress.”
Several sticky notes are labeled “Twitter.”
An address book is labeled “Facebook.”
A pair of scissors, tape, and photo clippings are labeled “Tumblr.”
Back to Figure
A timeline of advertising in the print, pre-digital, and digital eras.
Posters were the main source of advertising prior to 16 50. Newspapers began featuring advertisements in 16 50 leading the way for magazines in 18 44, billboards in 18 67, and catalogs in 18 72.
Advertising on the radio began in 19 22 and launched the pre-digital era, which also included advertising on television in 19 41 and through direct mail in 19 54.
Digital-age advertising began with banner ads and Gmail in 19 94 and was followed by P P C in two thousand, Google in 20 03, Facebook and YouTube in 20 07, LinkedIn in 20 08, mobile apps in 20 09, Twitter in 20 10, and Facebook mobile in 20 12.
This figure also includes a list of important dates for each category: print, pre-digital, and digital.
Print:
14 39: Printing press
16 05: First newspaper
18 44: Telegram
18 66: Permanent telegraph line across the Atlantic
18 76: Telephone
19 hundred: First transmission of voice by radio
Pre-digital:
19 29: Television (12 channels)
19 53: Color television for the mass public
19 42: First computer
19 50: Cable T V (rare, for households without reception)
19 69: A R P A N E T (military forerunner of internet)
19 66: Email
19 70s: Cable TV (181 channels)
Digital:
19 70s: First desktop computer
19 73: Mobile phone