| Term | Definition |
|---|
| political culture | The widely shared beliefs, values, and norms about how citizens relate to government and to one another. |
| social capital | Democratic and civic habits of discussion, compromise, and respect for differences, which grow out of participation in voluntary organizations. |
| natural rights | The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights. |
| social equality | idea in Declaration of Independence; titles of nobility explicitly banned in Constitution |
| political equality | The idea that every individual has a right to equal protection under the law and equal voting power |
| equal opportunity | social background should not limit our opportunity to achieve to the best of our ability not should race, gender, or religion. |
| democratic consensus | Widespread agreement on fundamental principles of democratic governance and the values that undergird them. |
| majority rule | Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority. |
| popular sovereignty | A belief that ultimately power resides in the people. |
| American dream | The widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success. |
| capitalism | An economic system characterized by private property, competitive markets, economic incentives, and limited government involvement in the production, distribution, and pricing of goods and services. |
| suffrage | The right to vote. |
| monopoly | Domination of an industry by a single company that fixes prices and discourages competition; also, the company that dominates the industry by these means. |
| antitrust legislation | Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Act of 1890) that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade. |
| liberalism | A belief that government can and should achieve justice and equality of opportunity |
| conservatism | A belief that limited government ensures order, competitive markets, and personal opportunity. |
| socialism | An economic and governmental system based on public ownership of the means of production and exchange. |
| libertarianism | An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government, promoting a free market economy, a noninterventionist foreign policy, and an absence of regulation in moral, economic, and social life. |
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