After reading Chapter 13 students should understand:

1. The concept "legitimation" and the processes by which classes create the legitimation required to maintain their power. What is being "legitimated'? Give examples from the text and from current events.

a. why force is insufficient to maintain the social order
b. The political effects of control over information.

2. The concept "norms of distributive justice."

a. The meaning of "cognitive consistency." How does it operate? Give examples
b. Research findings on the norms of distribute justice.

3. How people's self-evaluation influences their perception of what they should get in society
a. The role of the "generalized other."
b. The ways elites control the people's perception of their social contributions
c. Della Fave's proposition

4. The notion of "equality of opportunity;" who is most likely to believe in it?
a. Which groups are more likely t favor equality and which are more likely to favor its opposite? Why?
b. the role of education in shaping people's beliefs about this issue

5. The concept of "solidarity rituals." How do elites use them to maintain their power?

6. The concept of "civil religion" and how the term applies to the U.S.

7. Why is is more important to understand the degree of inequality than simply acknowledging that there is inequality

8. Macro and Micro level levels of legitimation: how do they differ? give exaples

9. The reasons why education legitimates inequality

10. How the media legitimizes inequality

a. the ways the media supports elite policy
b. what the media tells, what it does not tell and how it frames what it tells
c. the relationship between media ownership and the process of legitimation
d. Herman and Chomsky's analysis of the media: which five factors conducive to distorted news do they identify?

11. Identify other sources of influences on public opinion besides the media.

12. Micro and macro processes of legitimation and their interaction.

adapted from Instructor's Manual prepared by Richard A. Schaffer)

       Return to the ONLINE SYLLABUS