Public Opinion Short Essay Assignment

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Humanities

The purpose of this essay is to examine the bases of ideological perspectives. This assignment has three parts but the essence of the assignment is part 2*, this is where the bulk of the points will be scored.

  1. Your ideology
    1. Take the PEW typology quiz http://www.people-press.org/quiz/political-typolog… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
    2. How were you categorized?
    3. Are you at all surprised by your results?
  2. Examine the bases of your ideological perspective in terms of:
    1. Chapter 6, “Public Opinion” of your Open to Debate e-text
    2. Jonathan Haidt and George Lakoff who look at differences in ideology as manifestations of deep-seated moral values. I will be expecting references to Haidt and Lakoff in your essay and you should find the following resources to be of help.
      1. Haidt, “What Makes People Vote Republican” Ch. 6 Reader
      2. Jonathan Haidt TED Talk: https://embed.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_can_a_d… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
      3. Lakoff, “Don’t Underestimate Trump” Ch. 5 Reader
  3. Please relate your understanding of the cognitive bases of ideological reasoning, above, to the narratives employed in the 2016 presidential election: https://businessofstory.com/podcast/brander-chief-… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. What about facts: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/do… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.?

Source Material:

  1. Open to Debate e-text: Chapter Six Public Opinion
    1. Power-point lecture outlines (in the Chapter 6 Canvas Module
    2. Video Lectures, also in the Chapter 6 Canvas Module (many students find these to be particularly helpful):
  2. American Government Examined e-reader:
    1. Chapter Six: Haidt, “What Makes People Vote Republican”
    2. Chapter Six: Lakoff “Don’t Underestimate Trump”
  3. Online:
    1. Jonathan Haidt TED Talk: https://embed.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_can_a_d… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
    2. Trump’s Lies v. Your Brain: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/do… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
    3. How Trump’s Narrative Intuition Beat Clinton: https://businessofstory.com/podcast/brander-chief-… (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

* I will be looking for direct references to assigned readings (author and page # citations are adequate). Again, this is an assignment in which I am looking for your ability to display your knowledge of course materials!