POLSCI 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Voting Rights Act Of 1965
Document Summary
Group activity reflects the political environment: periods of significant change or social and economic upheaval usually signal a burst of group activity, there are thousands of groups at the national, state, and local level. Are interest groups effective: the evidence is surprisingly mixed, research has found that advocacy rarely yields returns, however, if advocacy did not work, groups would not spend money on it at all. Participation: actions by ordinary citizens to influence the government, voting, contacting public officials, giving money, singing petitions, demonstrating/protesting/boycotting, attending rallies or speeches, letters to the editor. Inequality: decline in voting participation, americas participate more, vote less than others. Key concepts: popular sovereignty, the principle that ultimate authority resides in the people. Key concepts: voter registration, the process by which citizens enroll with government agencies to obtain permission to vote. Inequality: age: young people vote much less.