ABSTRACT
American political history seems to have eluded a staggering proportion of teenagers and young adults. One in five teenagers did not know who the colonists fought in the Revolutionary War. Political ignorance is manifest especially in the beliefs that white Americans hold about the position of blacks in society. Whites perceive the black population at about twice the size it actually is. Two out of five whites believe that there is no serious discrimination in society; that is, they believe blacks are treated equally or the same as whites. Community conflicts, such as those over the teaching of evolution, may best be understood by the deep level of ignorance characterizing the dispute. People are politically ignorant because their socialization and social pressure have guided them to that state. As a tool of oppression, political ignorance insulates people from the obscenities of capitalism, racism and sexism, and the concentration of power in society.
