Advanced Placement United States Government & Politics

Ethnocentrism  Selective –perceptions based on background, attitudes, biases  Inability to appreciated the difference in point of view based on differing cultures.

Cleavages: Reinforcing and Cross-cutting  Reinforcing Cleavages: political conflict becomes more intense and there is greater polarization in society

Cross-cutting cleavages  Cross-cutting cleavages: instances where differences don’t reinforce each other. *ex. American diversity-lessens political conflict because individuals have multiple allegiances

Elements of Diversity  Geography  Sectional differences  Social and economic differences  Race and ethnic differences  Gender and sexual orientation  Religious differences

Poverty  The 2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia  Persons in family Poverty guideline  1 $10,830  2 $14,570  3 $18,310  4 $22,050 5 $25,790

Geography and Politics

Race and Ethnicity  African Americans  13 percent of the population.  Hispanics  10 percent of the population.  Asians  4 percent of the population.  Native Americans  1 percent of the population.

The Gender Gap  In 2000 there were 3 female governors, 13 female senators, and 58 members in the House of Representatives.  Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore received 12 percent more female votes than the Republican candidate George W. Bush.

Congress and the Gender Gap

Politics and the Gender Gap

Gender Gap on Political Issues

Gender Gap and Wages

The Gender Gap (con’t.)  Sixty-four percent more women than men work at or below the minimum wage.  Men and women do not earn comparable wages even when education levels are equivalent.

The Gender Gap  Women earn 78 cents on the dollar  MBA grads-women earn 4,600 less  One year out of college, women make 80% of male counterpart’s salary in same occupation  3% of fortune 500 CEOs

 Women are in the majority of all college graduates and law school graduates but less than a third are politicians or partners in law firms.  Closing the gap could increase GDP by 9%  Women hold 17 percent of the seats in Congress, well below Europe’s 22 percent and far behind the Nordic countries’ 42 percent

 The surge of women running as anti-abortion conservatives reflects a “war over who gets to define what feminism means.”

 In 2008, 6 percent more men than women supported the GOP presidential nominee John McCain. (White men, in particular, have tended to vote more conservatively than almost any other demographic group.)

Women’s Issues  Politics & Women Politics & Women  Reproductive Rights Reproductive Rights  Workplace Issues Workplace Issues  Health care  Parenting & Caregiving Parenting & Caregiving

Sexual Orientation  Roughly 10 percent of Americans identify themselves as homosexual.  Vermont, 2000, 1 st state to permit same-sex couples to form ‘civil unions’.

American “Unity” Melting Pot Vs. Salad Bowl Analogies

Implications...  Religion  Income, wealth  Occupation  Social Class  Age  Education