|
This course focuses on three core questions. First, can people control political leaders through public opinion and elections? Second, to what degree can opinion surveys serve leaders as reliable guides to public preferences on public policy alternatives? Third, to what degree can leaders influence, manipulate, or inform ordinary citizens through political campaigning and mass communications? Specific topics include the social psychology of attitudes, ideologies, and prejudice; rationality and voting; policy making for electoral purposes; media advertising and campaign techniques; and political generations and the dynamics of attitude change. Special attention will be given to computer-based analyses of contemporary U.S. elections using SP SS, with a special focus on the 2000 presidential election.
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Lecture
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: NONE Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459