POLS 1130 / Walker

Introduction to Comparative Politics

Written Assignment 1 - Analysis of the Video The Heart of the Nation

This video is part of the Challenge to America series that examines the relative competitiveness of the US, Japan, and Germany and the underlying causes.  Please answer the following questions based on the material presented in the video.
  1. Germany, Japan, and the US are all democracies, yet, as the video make clear, differing cultural values underlie each one.  What are these differing values?

  2. The video also focuses on the role schools play in promoting these values.  How do schools in the US, Germany and Japan promote attitudes and orientations valued by each respective polity?

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  3. The process of passing on societal values is called socialization.  Schools are considered one "agent of socialization" since they are a vehicle through which children learn about a society's values.  What other "agents of socialization" were evident in the video.

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  4. From what you saw in the video, what political values (for example, views on the proper scope of government involvement individual lives, attitudes toward authority, or understandings of equality) were part of the socialization process in the three countries? 

  5. What role does the government play in educating young people and preparing them for the workforce in the three polities?