POL 101 Final Questions and Answers

Bias in the media - SEE "91 PERCENT OF RECENT NETWORK COVERAGE HAS BEEN NEGATIVE" SEE "IDEOLOGICAL PLACEMENT OF EACH SOURCE'S AUDIENCE" Positive Coverage of GOP/Dem Only Fox News presents Republicans in a positive light. Almost two thirds of media coverage on the GOP casts them in a negative light. Fairness Doctrine for TV? Who joins organized interests? - What are Organized Interests? Formal Groups Benefit from the government. Some form of policy stance. Who joins these groups Higher Socioeconomic Status. Middle Income Individuals. What is pluralism? What are arguments against pluralism? - Type of Groups Unions Ideological Single Interest Environmental Groups Civil Rights What Role does Government Play? Provide collective/public goods Non Exclusivity Non Rivalry Role of Special Interest in Society Aggregation of interests necessary to represent societal opinion because of the diversity of interests in society and the difficulties inherent in uncovering individual preferences for public policies. Group competition ensures compromise, as each group tempers their own interests in order to ensure the passage of legislation. Multiplicity of interests, so everyone is represented by some group. Overlapping group memberships mitigate extremism and promote group compromise. Since individuals are members of many groups, their diverse loyalties prevent polarization of group interests and extremism in (group) actions and goals. Formation, organization, and actions of groups incorporates the intensity of preferences into the policy-making process because these efforts entail costs that only the intense would be willing to incur. Problems with These Assumptions The existence of free-riding in groups means that not all of those involved in a group have the same interest in contributing to the group's collective interest; hence, the extent to which groups represent the interests of their members, or whether there is even agreement on those interests, is problematic. Success of small groups relative to large groups in their ability to efficiently create and apply political pressure; hence, small groups have a leg-up in affecting governmental decisions because they can be more easily mobilized. More Problems Lack of member participation in groups; hence decisions are made