Resources:

Specimen exercises

Explain and examine the significance of the following terms:

• (American) national identity
• resource management (of natural resources)
• regional cultures
• cultural assimilation
• an evolving federalism
• the (legal) appeal structure
• subsistence farming
• voluntary (social) services
• non-discriminatory (educational) practices
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Write short essays on the following questions:

1. To what extent can the USA be called a ‘multicultural’ society?

2. Why has the conservation of natural resources in America caused much controversy?

3. How much have the 9/11 terrorist attacks changed the USA?

4. Debate the following statement: The foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration has been more a continuation of American traditions than a break with the country’s past in international relations.

5. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the current trend toward more centralized regulation of public education in the USA. What forms has this trend taken?

6. Are the debates about gun control and the death penalty connected? If so, in what ways?

7. Why is the budget deficit an important indicator of government control?

8. Should the American Social Security system be privatized?

9. To what extent has equality between the sexes become a reality in the USA?

10. How important is secularization in American religious life?