Wealthy people tend to think differently on social issues from poor people. Factory workers probably do not share the same views as white-collar workers, non-union workers. Women employed outside their homes sometimes have perspectives different from those of full-time homemakers. In these and other ways individual status shapes one’s view of current events.
The mass media, especially television, are powerful influences on the way people think and act. Government officials note how mail from the public tends to "follow the headlines". Whatever is featured in newspapers and magazines and on television attracts enough attention that people begin to inform themselves and to express opinions.
The mass media have also created larger audiences for government and a wider range of public issues than existed before. Prior to television and the national editions of newspapers, issues and candidates tended to remain localized. In Great Britain and West Germany, for example, elections to the national legislatures were usually viewed by voters as local contests. Today’s elections are seen as struggles between party leaders and programs. In the United States radio and television have been beneficial to the presidency. Since the days ot Franklin D. Roosevelt and his "fireside chats", presidents have appealed directly to a national audience over the heads of Congress to advocate their programs.
Special-interest groups spend vast sums annually trying to influence public opinion. Public utilities, for instance, tried to sway public opinion in favor of nuclear power plants. Opposed to them were citizens’ organizations successful advertising campaign designed to prevent the passage of medicare.
Opinion leaders are usually such prominent public figures as politicians, some business personalities, and celebrity athletes. The opinions of these individuals, whether informed and intelligent or not, carry weight with some segments of the population. Some individuals, such as Nobel Prize winners, are suddenly thrust into public view by the media. By quickly reaching a large audience, their views gain a hearing and are perhaps influential in shaping views on complex issues.
The second paragraph is mainly about ______.
A.the influence of gender on people’s view
B.the influence of people’s status on their view
C.the influence of living standard on people’s view
D.the influence of different jobs on people’s view
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As argument rages over declining test scores in the nation’s schools, an old but explosive issue is reappearing: What is intelligence—and is it determined largely by genetics
The controversy erupted more than a decade ago when some US scholars saw a racial pattern in the differing scores of students taking intelligence and college-entrance tests.
Now, the racial issue is being joined by others. Teachers, psychologists, scientists and lawyers argue over the question of whether IQ —intelligence quotient — tests actually measure mental ability, or if findings are skewed by such factors as family background, poverty and emotional disorders.
Moreover, some authorities assert that the rise in the number of college-educated Americans and their tendency to marry among themselves are creating a class of super-smart children of brainy parents — and, on the other side of the scale, a lumpenproletariat of children reflecting the supposedly inferior brainpower of their parents.
Critics such as Harvard University biologist Richard C. Lewontin disagree. If mental ability were largely determined by inheritance, he says, efforts to enhance intelligence through the betterment of both home and child-rearing environments could only be marginally effective. He comments:
"Genetic determinism could be used to justify existing social injustice as predetermined and inevitable and would render efforts made toward equalitarian goals as useless. "
Supporting Lewontin in this is J. McVicker Hunt, a professor at the University of Illinois, who maintains that IQ levels can be raised significantly by exposing children at an early age to stimulating environments. Hunt’s studies show that early help in such areas as education and nutrition can raise a child’s IQ by an average of 30 to 35 points.
At stake in the uproar over IQ is the national commitment to improve the capabilities of the poor by investing billions of dollars annually in educational, medical and job programs.
The controversy over IQ tests is reappearing because of ______.
A.the newly found racial pattern underlying students’ performance
B.the worsening students’ performance in their studies
C.the long-standing division in the definition of intelligence
D.the dubious IQ scales used to measure intelligence
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