POLITICAL CYNICISM AND CITIZENSHIP

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Unit Summary

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Cynicism about public life is pervasive, but it may not be merited.

The clear majority of public servants work hard and honorably.

Politics impacts all of us, regardless of our attitudes.

Skepticism is healthy and necessary in a democracy.

Cynicism undermines democracy because it discourages people from thinking they can make a difference or that things can be changed for the better.

KEY TERMS or CONCEPTS

Corruption: Impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle; inducement to wrong by improper or unlawful means (as bribery); a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct.

Cynicism: Having or showing the attitude or temper of a cynic; especially, contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives.

Ethics: The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation; a set of moral principles or values; a theory or system of moral values; the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group; a guiding philosophy.

Principles: A set of comprehensive and fundamental laws, doctrines, or assumptions; rules or codes of conduct; the laws or facts of nature underlying the working of an artificial device.

Private: Intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class; belonging to or concerning an individual person, company, or interest; restricted to the individual or arising independently of others; carried on by the individual independently of the usual institutions.

Public: Of, relating to, or affecting all the people or the whole area of a nation or state; of or relating to a government; of, relating to, or being in the service of the community or nation; of or relating to people in general; of or relating to business or community interests as opposed to private affairs; accessible to or shared by all members of the community; capitalized in shares that can be freely traded on the open market.

Skepticism: An attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object; the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge in a particular area is uncertain; the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism characteristic of skeptics; doubt concerning basic religious principles.