Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UT Dallas Syllabus For Psci3333.501.11s Taught by Marianne Stewart (Mstewart)
UT Dallas Syllabus For Psci3333.501.11s Taught by Marianne Stewart (Mstewart)
Contact Information
Professor: (Dr.) Marianne Stewart
Office E-Mail: mstewart@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: 4:00-5:30 p.m., Monday; 12:00-1:00 p.m., Wednesday; and by appointment
Office Location: 3.226 GR
Office Phone: (972) 883-2011
Course Information
In general, this undergraduate course focuses on the sources, distribution, and consequences of
why some people vote but others do not, how people make political choices, and how they
participate in politics in other ways. In particular, the course objectives are to help students learn
to:
• describe the behavioral approach to the study of politics, as well as the key concepts and
major measures of various types of political behavior;
• evaluate several explanations of the sources and distribution of voting, political choice, and
other types of political behavior;
• assess the consequences of political behavior for the making of public policy and the viability
of democratic regimes.
Required Books
Clarke, Harold D., Allan Kornberg, and Thomas J. Scotto. 2009. Making Political Choices:
Canada and The United States. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9674-6
(pbk)
Dalton, Russell J. 2008. Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced
Industrial Democracies, 5th edition. Washington: Congressional Quarterly Press. ISBN 978-0-
87289-537-9 (pbk)
Course Schedule
January 10. An Introduction to The Course.
January 12-19-24. Studying Political Behavior: The Behavioral Approach, Two Participation
Theories.
Required Reading
Dalton, Citizen Politics, chs. 1-2
January 17. Martin Luther King Day - No Class.
January 26/February 2-7. Defining Political Behavior: Electoral, Communal, and Protest
Participation.
Required Reading
Dalton, Citizen Politics, ch. 3.
March 7-9-21. Explaining The Participation Decision: Mass Media and Political Learning.
April 4-6-11. Explaining Political Choice: Social Bases and Political Partisanship.
Required Reading
Dalton, Citizen Politics, chs. 8-9.
April 13-18-20. Explaining Political Choice: Political Attitudes and Valence Politics.
Required Reading
Dalton, Citizen Politics, ch. 10.
Clarke, Kornberg and Scotto, Making Political Choices, chs. 2-7.
A+: 97-100%; A: 93-96%; A-: 90-92%; B+: 84-89%; B: 77-83%; B-: 70-76%; C+: 67-69%; C:
64-66%; C-: 60-63%; D+: 57-59%; D: 54-56%; D-: 50-53%; F: Below 50%.
Note
In addition the above, students are expected to:
• know that this syllabus, including course schedule, is subject to change at the discretion of
the Professor;
• read related policy material at http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies.