| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Capitalism | economic system in which private citizens own and use the factors of production in order to generate profits |
| Consumer Price Index | statistic that measures overall changes in price or inflation over time |
| Consumer Sovereignty | the concept that the consumer is the ruler of the market |
| Demand | desire, ability, and willingness to buy a product |
| Depression | a state of the economy with large numbers of unemployment, supply shortages, and excess capacity in manufacturing plants |
| Deregulation | relaxation of government regulation on industry |
| Elasticity | a measure of responsiveness that tells us how a dependent variable such as quantity responds to an independent variable such as price |
| Federal Reserve System | privately owned, publicly controlled, central bank of the United States |
| Gross Domestic Product | the dollar amount of all final goods and services produced within a country's borders in a year |
| Inflation | a rise in the general level of prices |
| Liquidity | ability to converted an asset into cash quickly |
| Marginal Utility | the extra usefulness gained from consuming one more unit of a product |
| Minimum Wage | the lowest legal wage that can be paid to most workers |
| Money | any substance that serves as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, and a store of value |
| Scarcity | the condition that results from limited resources combined with unlimited wants |
| Standard of Living | the quality of life based on the possession of necessities and luxuries that make life easier |
| Supply | the amount of a product that would be offered for sale at all possible prices that could prevail in the market |
| Tariff | a tax on an imported product |
| Trade-Off | alternatives that must be given up when one is chosen over another |
| Unemployed | people available for work who made a specific effort to find a job during the past month and who, during the most recent survey week, worked less than one hour for pay |
| Appeasement | satisfying the demands of dissatisfied powers in an effort to maintain peace and stability |
| Aristocracy | an upper class whose wealth is based on land and whose power is passed on from one generation to another |
| Autonomous | self-governing |
| Caste System | a set of rigid social categories that determined not only a person's occupation and economic potential, but also his or her position in society |
| Concentration Camp | a camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions |
| Conquistador | a Spanish conqueror of the Americas |
| Crusades | a series of military expeditions by Christian Europe to regain the Holy Land from the Muslims |
| Dictator | an absolute ruler |
| Disarmament | a limit or reduction in armed forces or weapons |
| Dissident | a person who speaks out against the regime in power |
| Divine Right of Kings | the idea that kings receive their power from God and are responsible only to God |
| Dynasty | a family line of rulers who's right to rule is passed on within the family |
| Feudalism | a political and social system that developed during the Middle Ages; nobles offered protection and land in return for service |
| Hellenistic | pertaining to Greek language and culture |
| Heresy | thoughts and ideas that are contrary to the teachings of the Christian faith |
| Hieroglyphics | a sophisticated system of writing based on pictures |
| Magna Carta | a written code that limited the power of the English monarchy for the first time; also called the Great Charter |
| Middle Passage | the middle portion of the triangular trade that brought African slaves to the Americas |
| Nationalism | the unique cultural identity of a people based on common language, religion, and national symbols |
| Natural Rights | the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property |
| Nomad | people who move from place to place following animal migrations and vegetation cycles |
| Propaganda | ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause |
| Renaissance | a period in European history of the rebirth of learning based on the knowledge of ancient Roman and Greek learning; mainly in art, philosophy, invention, exploration and religious reform |
| Reparation | payment made to the victor by the vanquished to cover the costs of a war |
| Rural | of or relating to people who live in the country |
| Secular | a viewpoint void of religious thought or considerations |
| Social Contract | the idea that an entire society agrees to be governed by its general will |
| Socialism | a system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production |
| Totalitarian | a government that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens |
| Urban | of or located in the city |
| Amnesty | the act of granting pardon to a large group of people |
| Bilingualism | the practice of teaching immigrant students in their own language |
| Brinkmanship | the willingness to go to the brink of war to force an opponent to back down |
| Communism | an economic system in which the central government directs all major economic decisions |
| Confederacy | a loose union of independent states; name of government used by the southern states that seceded during the Civil War |
| Conservative | a person who believes government power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom |
| Containment | the policy designed to keep the Soviet Union from expanding its power |
| Corporation | an organization that is authorized by law to carry on an activity but treated as though it were a single person |
| Détente | relaxation of tensions between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China |
| Downsizing | reducing a company in size by laying off workers and managers to become more efficient |
| Ethnic Cleansing | the expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of ethnic minorities by a dominant majority group |
| Euro | the basic currency shared by the countries of the European Union since 1999 |
| Fascism | a political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and has no tolerance for opposition |
| Flexible Response | the buildup of conventional troops and weapons to allow a nation to fight a limited war without using nuclear weapons |
| Impeachment | a formal accusation of misconduct in office against a public official |
| Imperialism | the actions used by one nation to exercise political or economic control over smaller or weaker nation |
| Insurrection | an act of rebellion against the established government |
| Internationalism | a national policy of actively trading with foreign countries to foster peace and prosperity |
| Isolationism | the avoidance of involvement in world affairs |
| Liberal | a person who generally believes the government should take an active role in the economy and in social programs but that the government should not dictate social behavior |
| Multinational Corporation | large corporation with overseas investments |
| Nuclear Proliferation | the spread of nuclear weapons to new nations |
| Nullification | the failure or refusal of a U.S. state to aid in the enforcement of federal laws within its state limits |
| Political Machine | an organization linked to a political party that often controlled local government |
| Segregation | the separation or isolation of a race, class, or group |
| Self-Determination | belief that people in a territory should have the ability to choose their own government |
| State Sponsored Terrorism | violent acts against civilians that are secretly supported by a government in order to attack other nations without going to war |
| Subversion | a systematic attempt to overthrow a government by using persons working secretly from within |
| Suffrage | the right to vote |
| Terrorism | the use of violence by non-governmental groups against civilians to achieve a political goal by instilling fear and frightening governments into changing policies |
| Bureaucracy | government administrators |
| Civil Society | a complex network of voluntary associations, economic groups, religious organizations, and many other kinds of groups that exist independent of government |
| Constituent | a person whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent |
| Democracy | a general description of a government in which the people rule |
| Diplomacy | the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations without arousing hostility |
| Due Process of Law | principle in the 5th Amendment stating that the government must follow proper constitutional procedures in trials and in other actions it takes against individuals |
| Federalism | a system in which power is divided between the national and state governments |
| Government | the institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public services, and enforces binding decisions on citizens |
| Ideology | a set of basic beliefs about life, culture, government, and society |
| Incumbent | elected official that is already in office |
| Interest Group | a group of people with common goals who organize to influence government |
| Judicial Review | the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws and actions of local, state, or national governments unconstitutional |
| Jurisdiction | the authority, power, or right of a court to interpret or apply the law on certain cases |
| Lobbying | direct contact made by an interest group representative in order to persuade government officials to support the policies their interest group favors |
| Naturalization | the legal process by which a person is granted citizenship |
| Patronage | the practice of granting favors to reward party loyalty |
| Political Party | a group of individuals with broad common interests who organize to nominate candidates for office, win elections, conduct government, and determine public policy |
| Politics | the effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government |
| Republic | a specific description of a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them |
| Sovereignty | the supreme and absolute authority within territorial boundaries |
Combine with other sets
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