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POLS 4352 - Political Behavior

About the Course

This course examines the public's orientation toward and involvement in government and politics. Students will study public opinion, partisan identification, and political participation.




 

Syllabus (as of Fall 2021)



Select Required Reading


  1. Lewis-Beck, M. S., et al. (2008). The American Voter Revisited. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

  2. Hetherington, M. J., et al. (2018). Prius or Pickup?: How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America's Great Divide. Unabridged. Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio.

  3. Mason, L. (2018). Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

  4. Berry, J. M., & Sobieraj, S. (2014). The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.

  5. Zaller, J. (1992). The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. Cambridge, England; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.

  6. Chong, D. (1991). Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  7. Fraga, B. L. (2018). The Turnout Gap: Race, Ethnicity, and Political Inequality in a Diversifying America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

  8. Mutz, D. C. (2006). Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative Versus Participatory Democracy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.


Select Assignments


Create Your Blog...


First things first, you've got to create your blogsite. I highly recommend Wix. That said, whichever blogging platform you use is wholly up to you.


This is your site, so the look and feel should reflect you and your personality. You'll be using it often during this semester, so have fun with it. Be creative. Name it something cool. Design it to your tastes. However, remember that the internet is forever, so whatever you create, make sure it is something you won't be embarrassed by in the future.


The process to create a blog is easy (especially if you follow the steps on Wix). It took me, oh, 15 minutes to create this shell blogsiteLinks to an external site..


Once the site is created, publish it, and share your site URL here to get credit.


 

Listicle Blog Post


For your final blog assignment, you're going to create a listicle.


Your Role and Situation and Audience:


You're creating content for your popular blog on political behavior. You are tasked with creating a “listicle”-style article about the “top five” themes, concepts, trends – or other aspects that you might identify - that you learned from this course.


Your Assignment, Audience, and the Standards for Success:


You must decide on at least five themes, concepts, trends from the course content. You may decide to focus only on articles we've read, only on videos we've watched, only on a certain kind of article, or a combination of these.


Your Process:


You may need to skim a bit to come up with a research question, but you should start with a broad research question and theme. Here is an example:


  • Looking at the course module on political attitudes, I might ask, "Who are the primary agents of political socialization?" I might then think about parents or teachers or friends.

  • My listicle might end up being something like, “Top Five Things My Parents Taught Me About [insert opposition party]”.


Your Product:


Your final listicle should include a paragraph for each element, which includes references to content (covered in our course) about the subject you chose.


It’s up to you to decide how you provide citations for your information–hyperlinks? Footnotes? List of works consulted?


Your listicle should have some conscious visual design to it. Use Canva, Thinglink, your favorite meme or giphy, or other visuals to illustrate your findings.


Select Completed Student-Listicle Example


To view, click image below:



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