POLS 102 STUDY GUIDE 2026 EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Rosseau social contract - ✔✔institute solidarity of "general will" to promote equality--
-> "forced to be free"
✔✔group identity/identity politics - ✔✔people give up their freedom for security when
they receive benefits, are coerced, not willing to sacrifice
✔✔economy - ✔✔transforming labor into something of value
✔✔government intervention - ✔✔- every government that has the capacity to will collect
taxes
- tax policy used to promote or dincentivize behavior
✔✔tragedy of the commons - ✔✔situation in which people acting individually and in
their own interest use up commonly available but limited resources, creating disaster for
the entire community
✔✔stag hunt - ✔✔a situation in which hunters must decide whether to collaborate with
each other or act on their own
✔✔how to keep the commons - ✔✔- collective political action
- regulation, monitoring, enforcement
- raise costs of defecting
- coordinate cooperation
✔✔origins of capitalism - ✔✔- emerging from fuedal systems
- system of mutual dependence
- changing relationships between owners and workers
✔✔industrial capitalism - ✔✔- effiencies of factories
- division of labor
- scale of production
- replacement of workforce
✔✔Marx and the pathologies of capitalism - ✔✔- the class of workers become a kind of
commons
- cuts to wages and worker safety
- seeks cheapest labor
✔✔Triangle shirtwaste factory fire - ✔✔negative outcomes of captialism
✔✔how did socialism save capitalism - ✔✔- collective political action led to regulation
, - OSHA, child labor laws, building codes, minimum wage
✔✔origins of socialism - ✔✔- society/workers own the means of production
- focus on community welfare
- ineffcient and leads to greed
✔✔balancing of capitalism and socialism - ✔✔- government regulation
- market productivity
✔✔currency - ✔✔- tokens of value
- collective political action
✔✔central banks and monetary policy - ✔✔- control the supply of money in an economy
- do this by changing interest rates
- incentivizing borrowing or savings
✔✔governments intervention to achieve goals - ✔✔- preventing tragedies of the
commons
- providing infrastructure
- currency management
- education
- research and development
✔✔governance as control - ✔✔behavior, people, substances, actions, expenses,
power, foreign relations, security, information
✔✔surveillance as governance - ✔✔- Surveillance is about controlling yourself and your
actions
- The credible threat of being watched and there are consequences
- the panopticon
✔✔pervasive control - ✔✔- public punishment
- high costs for infractions
- belief in enforcement
✔✔atomization - ✔✔keeping people separate
✔✔peer policing - ✔✔having people police each other
✔✔preference falsification - ✔✔not revealing one's true preferences in public
✔✔legitimacy - ✔✔voluntary acceptance of government rule
✔✔divine right to rule - ✔✔Belief that a rulers authority comes directly from god.
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Rosseau social contract - ✔✔institute solidarity of "general will" to promote equality--
-> "forced to be free"
✔✔group identity/identity politics - ✔✔people give up their freedom for security when
they receive benefits, are coerced, not willing to sacrifice
✔✔economy - ✔✔transforming labor into something of value
✔✔government intervention - ✔✔- every government that has the capacity to will collect
taxes
- tax policy used to promote or dincentivize behavior
✔✔tragedy of the commons - ✔✔situation in which people acting individually and in
their own interest use up commonly available but limited resources, creating disaster for
the entire community
✔✔stag hunt - ✔✔a situation in which hunters must decide whether to collaborate with
each other or act on their own
✔✔how to keep the commons - ✔✔- collective political action
- regulation, monitoring, enforcement
- raise costs of defecting
- coordinate cooperation
✔✔origins of capitalism - ✔✔- emerging from fuedal systems
- system of mutual dependence
- changing relationships between owners and workers
✔✔industrial capitalism - ✔✔- effiencies of factories
- division of labor
- scale of production
- replacement of workforce
✔✔Marx and the pathologies of capitalism - ✔✔- the class of workers become a kind of
commons
- cuts to wages and worker safety
- seeks cheapest labor
✔✔Triangle shirtwaste factory fire - ✔✔negative outcomes of captialism
✔✔how did socialism save capitalism - ✔✔- collective political action led to regulation
, - OSHA, child labor laws, building codes, minimum wage
✔✔origins of socialism - ✔✔- society/workers own the means of production
- focus on community welfare
- ineffcient and leads to greed
✔✔balancing of capitalism and socialism - ✔✔- government regulation
- market productivity
✔✔currency - ✔✔- tokens of value
- collective political action
✔✔central banks and monetary policy - ✔✔- control the supply of money in an economy
- do this by changing interest rates
- incentivizing borrowing or savings
✔✔governments intervention to achieve goals - ✔✔- preventing tragedies of the
commons
- providing infrastructure
- currency management
- education
- research and development
✔✔governance as control - ✔✔behavior, people, substances, actions, expenses,
power, foreign relations, security, information
✔✔surveillance as governance - ✔✔- Surveillance is about controlling yourself and your
actions
- The credible threat of being watched and there are consequences
- the panopticon
✔✔pervasive control - ✔✔- public punishment
- high costs for infractions
- belief in enforcement
✔✔atomization - ✔✔keeping people separate
✔✔peer policing - ✔✔having people police each other
✔✔preference falsification - ✔✔not revealing one's true preferences in public
✔✔legitimacy - ✔✔voluntary acceptance of government rule
✔✔divine right to rule - ✔✔Belief that a rulers authority comes directly from god.
