Political Science Inequality, Voting and American Democracy. The American political system has always prevented electoral participation by certain social groups, especially those with the fewest resources. The obstacles to participation have changed over time and today formal barriers to participation have largely disappeared. Nevertheless, voting turnout has declined over the twentieth century, and the poor and less educated continue to vote at a lower rate than those who are wealthier and

Political Socialization Almost every individual in today's society has a set of political beliefs or values, but most of us hardly ever pause to think why we have such beliefs and how we have acquired them. Are they our own ideas or have we been influenced by others in our thinking? Most political scientists are of the opinion that people are not born with political ideas, nor do we manufacture them,

Another important area of change relates to sexual norms and values in the family. Studies show that there has a definite growth in more permissive attitudes towards sex and particularly premarital sex. The number of people who see sex between an unmarried man and woman as "wrong" dropped from 36% in 1972 to 24% in 1996. (the Emerging 21st Century American Family) These statistics indicate a change for the earlier view

). Domestic Violence at the Root This presents as the most important issue for family dissolution or divorce among low-income families (Haskins et al. 2005). Research conducted by Kathrun Edin and her team found that many poor mothers are willing to bear children even for men they consider unsuitable for marriage. Often, it is because these women believe they are in love with these men and that having children may improve these

" (Pearson Education, 2006) Civic education both encourages and teaches participation in a democratically governed society. It is the belief of this researcher that a correlation exists between civic education and participation and that the reason for this is quite simply the lack of knowledge on the part of individuals as to 'how' they can participate. This knowledge has not been routinely presented in education over the past thirty years

Therefore, one state could register a higher turnout at primary elections, while at local ones, a smaller figure could appear. Thus, it can be said that the issue of voter turnout does not rely necessarily on the technical aspects of the law in application, but rather on the political implication of the citizens and their interest in influencing the outcome of the elections by casting their vote. In 2002 another