those persons who advocate conservatism; a political ideology whose advocates fear the growth of government, prefer to maintain the status quo, deplore the government's drag on private-sector initiatives, dislike permissiveness in society, and place priority on military needs over social needs a system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences the upper class in a society that utilizes wealth for political power; according to the elite and class theory of government and politics, elites control policies because they control key institutions a theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization the institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society the sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation a theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened; an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism the belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government; one of the primary reasons for the comparatively small scope of American government is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice those who advocate liberalism; a political ideology whose advocates prefer a government active in dealing with human needs, support individual rights and liberties, and give higher priority to social needs than to military needs the channels or access points through which issues and people's public policy preferences get on the government's policy agenda; in the United States, elections, political parties, and interest groups are the three main linkage institutions

1. conservatives/conservatism

those persons who advocate conservatism; a political ideology whose advocates fear the growth of government, prefer to maintain the status quo, deplore the government's drag on private-sector initiatives, dislike permissiveness in society, and place priority on military needs over social needs

2. democracy

a system of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to the public's preferences

3. elite

the upper class in a society that utilizes wealth for political power; according to the elite and class theory of government and politics, elites control policies because they control key institutions

4. elite and class theory

a theory of government and politics contending that societies are divided along class lines and that an upper-class elite will rule, regardless of the formal niceties of governmental organization

5. government

the institutions and processes through which public policies are made for a society

6. gross domestic product

the sum total of the value of all the goods and services produced in a nation

7. hyperpluralism

a theory of government and politics contending that groups are so strong that government is weakened; an extreme, exaggerated, or perverted form of pluralism

8. individualism

the belief that individuals should be left on their own by the government; one of the primary reasons for the comparatively small scope of American government is the prominence of this belief in American political thought and practice

9. liberals/liberalism

those who advocate liberalism; a political ideology whose advocates prefer a government active in dealing with human needs, support individual rights and liberties, and give higher priority to social needs than to military needs

10. linkage institutions

the channels or access points through which issues and people's public policy preferences get on the government's policy agenda; in the United States, elections, political parties, and interest groups are the three main linkage institutions