Syllabus
HKS101A_3 Citizen Politics in America
Instructor: Thomas Patterson
In this course, we will examine the what’s often called “citizen politics” or “mass politics” – political activities that engage the public. The session’s topics are public opinion, political parties, campaigns, political movements, interest groups, and the media. The emphasis will be on the “big picture.” What are the major tendencies and how do they contribute to the public’s political influence?
The lectures will ask you to think critically about key issues. What, for example, is the influence of public opinion on the decisions made by officials? In the process of addressing such questions, you will engage in analytical reasoning—an important life skill that is strengthened through repeated use. Case studies will be used to prompt you to think critically about what you have learned.
It is strongly recommended that you read an introductory American government text as a supplement to the lectures. Such a text will improve your knowledge of the subject and fill in details that the lectures—given the limits of time—do not address. One such text is my own (Thomas Patterson, We the People, 13th edition). Pages from my text are listed in the readings for each session. You are free to use a different introductory text if you prefer. In that case, you should identify the pages related to each session’s topic.
This course is the third in a series of four. Three other U.S. Government courses are available through HarvardX and likewise conclude 7/21/2021. You are invited to visit the edX portal to learn about and enroll in these additional courses as well:
Welcome to the course! I look forward to being with you.
Thomas E. Patterson
Bradlee Professor of Government & the Press
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
thomas_patterson@hks.harvard.edu
Grading
In order to earn a certificate, you must complete at least 70% of the course requirements, which includes watching the lecture videos, doing the readings, answering the quizzes, participating in the discussion, and completing the writing assignments, each of which is worth 20% towards your final grade. Completion of lectures, readings, and discussion participation is self-reported in the ’Self-Assessment’ component at the end of each unit. You can track your progress throughout the course in the Progress tab.
The grading breakdown is as follows:
- Reading 20%
- Viewing Lecture 20%
- Quizzes 20%
- Discussion 20%
- Writing Assignments 20%
To earn a Verified Certificate, you must upgrade by Sunday, July 11, 2021.
You can complete the course requirements at any time by Wednesday, July 21, 2021, but for your own benefit, we encourage you to work through the material and assignments in a timely manner.
Writing Assignment, Essay
There will be a single writing assignment in the course. The essay is due on of before the course closes on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. You will be given a prompt and asked to write no more than 600 words in response. You will be given a rubric which you will use to grade your peers using the edX peer grading tool.
Lectures
The lectures will highlight main features of American politics while asking you to think critically about key issues. Why are American elections awash in money? Why has the power to start wars shifted from Congress to the president? Why does the United States have more people in poverty and yet spend less on social welfare than other major democracies? What accounts for the party polarization that characterizes today’s politics? Why is income inequality on the rise in America? Why has global trade become a controversial foreign policy issue? In the process of addressing such questions, you will engage in analytical reasoning—an important life skill that is strengthened through repeated use. Case studies will be used to prompt you to think critically about what you have learned.
Course Schedule and Readings
Public Opinion
Public opinion has a powerful and yet inexact influence on elected officials. They risk their careers if they ignore it. Yet its influence is not easy to quantify and there are many issues where public opinion barely comes into play.
This session will examine the attributes of public opinion and explore its impact on the decisions of policymakers—a subject that has been closely studied by political scientists. The session will also explain the theory and practice of polling, which has become the primary method of assessing public opinion. Gun control policy will be used to illustrate key points about the nature and influence of public opinion.
Essential Reading
- W. Phillips Davison, “Public Opinion,” Encyclopedia Britannica. This article, written by a leading sociologist, provides an overview of public opinion. The last section covers polling. You can choose to skip or skim the parts the parts that explain the intricacies of polling.
- Ruth Igielnik and Anna Brown, “Key takeaways on Americans’ views of guns and gun ownership,” Pew Research Center, June 22, 2017. (Gun control is the primary case study in this session.)
- German Lopez, “Virginia’s historic gun control fight, explained,” Vox, January 23, 2020,
Text Reading
- Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 13th edition, pp. 178-192. If you are using an earlier edition of "We the People" or some other text, read the pages on public opinion.
Political Parties
Competing political parties are indispensable in a democracy. By offering a choice between policies and leaders, parties give voters a chance to influence the direction of government. As political scientist E.E. Schattschneider wrote: “It is the competition of [parties] that provides the people with an opportunity to make a choice.” Unlike most democracies, the United States has a two-party system, the Republican and Democratic parties.
This session will examine this feature of the U.S. party system and will explain the nature of today’s Republican and Democratic parties. Party realignments will be a focus of the session; they will be explained in the context of the Civil War realignment, the Great Depression realignment, and the post-1960s realignment.
Essential Reading
- “New Deal Coalition,” Wikipedia. This reading explains the U.S. party system that was produced by the 1930s Great Depression.
- Dov Grohsgal and Kevin M. Kruse, “How the Republican Majority Emerged,” The Atlantic, August 6, 2019.
- Alan I. Abramowitz and Steven W. Webster, “Negative Partisanship: Why Americans Dislike Parties But Behave Like Rabid Partisans,” Advances in Political Psychology, 39 (2018): 119-134.
Text Reading
- Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 13th edition, pp. 222-237. If you are using an earlier edition of "We the People" or some other text, read the pages political parties).
Campaigns and Elections
U.S. elections differ from those of other democracies—longer, more costly, and more clearly centered on the candidates rather than the political parties. This session will examine U.S. campaigns and elections. It will concentrate on the presidential election process, given that congressional elections were discussed in previous sessions.
This session will look at the presidential election process, beginning with a look at the nominating process, which includes the “invisible primary” (the period preceding the presidential primaries and caucuses) along with the primaries and caucuses. The focus will then shift to the general election campaign, which centers on the battleground states—those that are competitive enough to be won by either candidate. Key points will be illustrated with examples from recent presidential campaigns, particularly the 2016 Trump-Clinton race.
Essential Reading
- 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Wikipedia. This reading is intended only as a refresher on the 2020 campaign. If you have followed it closely, skip the reading.
- William Mayer, Emmett Buell, Jr., James Campbell, and Mark Joslyn, “The Electoral College and Campaign Strategy,” in Choosing a President, pp. 103-110
- Andrew Gelman, “19 Lessons for Political Scientists From the 2016 Election,” Slate.com (12/8/16).
Text Reading
- Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 13th edition, pp. 368-375. If you are using an earlier edition of "We the People" or some other text, read the pages on campaigns and elections.
Political Movements
Political movements (or, as they are also called, social movements) are a way for citizens disenchanted with government to actively express their disagreement. Unlike voting or lobbying, political movements take place outside established institutions, often in the form of protest demonstrations and rallies.
This session will examine the factors affecting the success of political movements, such as their ability to attract the resources required for sustained advocacy. Several cases will be used to illustrate the significance of these factors: the black civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protest movement, the Tea Party movement, Occupy Wall Street, #MeToo, and Black Lives Matter.
Essential Reading
- Jonathan Christiansen, “Four Stages of Social Movements,” Research Starters.
- German Lopez, "What a growing coalition of protesters can learn from the Tea Party's success," Vox, February 2, 2017. (In reading this article, note particularly the distinctions between a political protest and a political movement.)
- Aleem Maqbool, “Black Lives Matter: From social media post to global movement,” BBC News, July 10, 2020.
Text reading
- Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 13th edition, pp. 212-217. If you are using an earlier edition of "We the People" or some other text, read the pages on political (social) movements.
Additional reading (read only if the topic is of particular interest)
- David Meyer and Suzanne Staggenborg, “Movements, Countermovements, and the Structure of Political Opportunity,” American Journal of Sociology 101 (1996): 1628-1655. A lengthy but informative article on political movements and the reaction they generate.
Interest Groups
An interest group—also called a faction, pressure group, special interest, or lobbying group—is an organization that actively seeks to influence public policy. In that sense, interest groups resemble political parties but there is a key distinction between the two. Above all, parties are in the business of trying to influence elections. Groups, on the other hand, concentrate on gaining influence over policies that directly affect their interests.
This session will examine interest groups, focusing on group influence and why some interests are more influential and fully organized than others. The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, enacted in response to the economic downturn that began in 2008, will be used to illustrate key points about group influence.
Essential Reading
- R. Allen Hays, “The Role of Interest Groups,” Democracy Papers.
- Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens,” Perspectives on Politics, 12 (2014). Read only pages 564-577. This article makes a strong case for the power of economic elites and business groups.
- “Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,” Wikipedia. The Dodd-Frank Act is this session’s case study. Read the background and legislative sections and skip the lengthy “Provisions” section of this reading.
- Ben Geier, “What the Dodd-Frank Act Did (and How It’s Changed),” smartasset, March 26, 2020.
Text Reading
- Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 13th edition, pp. 258-283. If you are using an earlier edition of "We the People" or some other text, read the pages on interest groups.
News Media
The news media are Americans’ window onto the world of politics. For most citizens, politics is a second-hand experience, something they observe through the media rather than directly. Many of people’s images of politics derive from what they see and hear through the media.
This session will examine the news media’s influence on politics, focusing on the extraordinary changes that have taken place in the news system in recent decades and on the consequences of those changes. The U.S. news system was once dominated by the television broadcast networks and local newspapers. Today, they have to compete with cable and Internet outlets, many of which operate by a different standard. News coverage of Trump’s and Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaigns will be used to illustrate key points.
Essential reading
- “An Unfettered Press: The American Press,” US Embassy, Germany, 1993. Provides an overview of what the U.S. news media were once like (and to a degree still are) in the era before cable and the Internet disrupted the news system.
- “News Sources on the Political Spectrum,” University of Michigan Library Research Guide.
- Elisa Shearer and Elizabeth Grieco, “Americans Are Wary of the Role Social Media Sites Play in Delivering the News,” Pew Research Center, October 2, 2019
- Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, Hal Roberts, and Ethan Zuckerman, “Study: Breitbart-led right-wing media ecosystem altered broader media agenda,” Columbia Journalism Review, March 3, 2017.
Text Reading
- Thomas E. Patterson, We the People, 13th edition, pp. 297-315. If you are using an earlier edition of "We the People" or some other text, read the pages on the news media.