Carrying capacity

ability of the earth to support life without suffering deterioration.

Civic culture

set of attitudes toward citizenship and politics held by those in a particular nation.

-       division of people by their economic, social, and political standing such as upper class, middle class and lower class.

Enlightenment

-       eighteenth-century, western dominated movement that believed in reason, freedom and progress.

Finite resources

-       resources such as minerals, petroleum, and safe drinking water whose quantities are considered limited.

-       political philosophy developed by Karl Marx that posits a class struggle rooted in economics as the key to understanding societal structures and political oppression.

Prescriptive constitution

successful and proven ways of conducting social, economic, and physical business that originates in a community’s history.

 Racism

belief in the superiority or inferiority of a given race resulting in discrimination against, or maltreatment of, the supposed inferior.      

Realism

-       position advocated by Reinhold Niebuhr that states, in part, that there can be no perfect justice and that in politics there are only proximate solutions to insoluble problems.   Despite this, Niebuhr urged people to fight for reform.

Religious fundamentalism

-       a movement to uphold defends and preserves age-old religious tradition and values.

Revolution of rising expectations

phrase characterizing the hope for a better way of life, especially among peoples in the developing world.

Sexism

-       a belief in the superiority of one sex over the other, resulting in discrimination based on gender.