- carbon tax
- a fee imposed on the use of fossil fuels based on the amount of carbon dioxide that use emits into the atmosphere
- collective action
- the activities of a group as it makes and implements a decision regarding a group goal
- collective action problems
- the broad category of activities in which participating individuals have incentives to maximize their own self-interest in ways that harm the group interest
- collective dilemma
- any situation in which a group must make difficult choices
- conformity costs
- the difference between what an individual wants from a policy decision and what the individual actually receives
- coordination problems
- the challenges groups face when there is general agreement on goals but disagreement on the specific ways in which to achieve them
- elite culture
- those in a country who, by virtue of their wealth, education, and position, have the dominant influence over politics and policy
- free rider problem
- when individuals in groups have incentives not to contribute to the group’s goals because they will receive the same outcome whether they contribute or not
- majority rule
- a form of decision-making by voting, in which the proposition that receives more than 50 percent of the votes wins
- mass culture
- the most popular views, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors within a society
- minority cultures
- the views, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors of subsets of a society that produce group identity
- political culture
- the set of shared political attitudes, values, goals, and practices within a country
- political elites
- those within a society who, by virtue of their wealth, status, positions, and power, have the greatest influence over the country’s political agenda, its policy decisions, and its decision-making cadre
- political socialization
- the gradual development, from youth through adulthood, of a political personality
- prisoner’s dilemma
- a scenario in which two individuals would benefit from cooperating, but each has strong incentives to defect, leaving both individuals worse off than if they had cooperated
- quorum
- the minimum number of the group that must be present for a vote to be held
- socialization
- the gradual process through which a person develops the values and beliefs that determine who they will be as an adult
- status quo
- the current situation
- supermajority
- a voting rule in which more than a majority is needed for a measure to pass
- tragedy of the commons
- a situation in which individuals have incentives to take as much as they can from a public resource, thereby depleting the resource
- transaction costs
- the time, money, and effort required to make a group decision