After reading this chapter students should be able to:

1. Identify the core ideals that constitute American political culture.
2. Discuss the importance of these ideals to American political culture as well as the reasons these ideals do not match the reality of people's experiences.
3. Identify the roots of political conflict.
4. Define the terms and discuss the relationships among power, authority and policy.
5. Define the terms constitutionalism, capitalism and democracy, and discuss how they act as rules to guide the play of politics in the United States.
6. Distinguish among majoritarian, pluralist and elitist theories of power.
7. Explain the "political system" model.