Matura Civics / Social Studies cheat sheet

Socialization: primary (family, emotional, early childhood) vs secondary (school, peers, workplace); internalization of norms produces social control without coercion.

Cooley's looking-glass self: we imagine how others see us, imagine their judgment, and form self-feeling from it - self-concept is socially constructed.

Mead: the self emerges through play and games by taking the role of the other; the 'generalized other' marks the internalized attitude of the whole community.

Durkheim: mechanical solidarity (similarity, repressive law) vs organic solidarity (division of labour, restitutive law); anomie = normlessness arising from deregulation.

Stratification types: estate (legal status), caste (ascriptive, endogamous), class (economic position); social mobility may be vertical/horizontal and intra-/intergenerational.

Family functions: reproductive, economic, socialization, emotional, protective; nuclear vs extended, patrilocal/matrilocal residence, monogamy vs polygamy.

Social change drivers: technological innovation, demographic transition, social movements, conflict, diffusion; Ogburn's cultural lag = material culture changes faster than norms.

Weber's class-status-party: stratification has economic (class), social honour (status) and political power dimensions that need not coincide.

State elements: territory, population, sovereign power, and monopoly on legitimate use of force (Weber); legitimacy types are traditional, charismatic, legal-rational.

Democracy: procedural minimum = free competitive elections, universal suffrage, rule of law, protection of freedoms, civilian control of the military, alternation of power.

Separation of powers (Montesquieu): legislative, executive, judicial; checks and balances plus mutual accountability prevent tyranny.

Ideologies axis: liberalism (individual liberty, limited state), conservatism (tradition, order), socialism/social democracy (equality, redistribution), nationalism (nation-state primacy).

Party systems: one-party, two-party (Duverger links plurality voting to two parties), multi-party with coalition governments; electoral threshold reduces fragmentation.

Electoral formulas: FPTP (single-member, plurality), proportional representation (party lists, d'Hondt/Sainte-Laguë), mixed systems (MMP, parallel).

Political culture (Almond & Verba): parochial, subject, participant; civic culture combines participant with subject/parochial elements for stable democracy.

Pressure groups vs parties: interest groups seek influence without contesting elections; parties aggregate interests and contest power directly.

Sources of law: constitution, statutes (acts), ratified international treaties, regulations (executive orders), local law; hierarchy determines validity - lower norms must conform.

Civil law (continental) relies on codified statutes; common law relies on precedent (stare decisis); in Poland ratified treaties and EU law may take precedence over statutes.

Legal relationship elements: subject (person), object (thing/conduct), content (rights and duties); capacity: legal capacity from birth, full legal capacity at 18.

Criminal law: act, unlawfulness, guilt (intent/negligence); no crime without a statutory prohibition in force at the time of the act (nullum crimen sine lege).

Presumption of innocence and in dubio pro reo; burden of proof lies with the prosecution; the accused has the right to defence and silence.

Civil law remedies: performance, damages (compensation for loss and lost profits), restitution; tort liability requires damage, wrongful act, causation and fault.

Administrative law: decisions issued by public bodies; appeal within the authority hierarchy then judicial review by administrative courts.

Human rights generations: first (civil/political), second (economic/social/cultural), third (solidarity - environment, development, peace); international protection via ECHR and UN covenants.

Constitution of 2 April 1997: principle of democratic rule of law, sovereignty of the Nation, separation of powers, subsidiarity, and protection of human dignity.

Bicameral parliament: Sejm (460 deputies, 4-year term, proportional with 5% threshold) and Senate (100 senators, single-member districts); both chambers jointly form the National Assembly.

President: elected directly for 5 years, maximum two terms; suspensive veto overridden by Sejm with a 3/5 majority in the presence of at least half the statutory deputies.

Council of Ministers: appointed by the President on the Prime Minister's proposal; Sejm votes a vote of confidence by absolute majority; constructive vote of no confidence.

Judiciary: independent courts, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal (constitutional review of statutes), and the State Tribunal (responsibility of top officials).

Local government: three tiers - gmina (commune), powiat (county), województwo (voivodeship/region); gmina has an elected council and directly elected wójt/burmistrz/prezydent.

Referendum and civic initiative: the Sejm may call a nationwide referendum; a citizens' legislative initiative requires 100,000 signatures.

Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich): independent guardian of citizens' rights, appointed by the Sejm with Senate consent for a 5-year term.

UN principal organs: General Assembly (one state, one vote), Security Council (5 permanent members with veto, 10 elected), ECOSOC, ICJ, Secretariat, Trusteeship Council.

NATO: collective defence under Article 5; consensus decision-making in the North Atlantic Council; members commit to 2% of GDP on defence.

EU institutions: European Commission (initiative, guardian of treaties), European Parliament (directly elected, co-legislator), Council of the EU (member-state ministers), European Council (heads of state/government).

EU law: regulations are directly applicable, directives bind as to result and require transposition, decisions bind their addressees; primacy and direct effect ensure uniformity.

Court of Justice of the EU: interprets EU law via preliminary rulings and reviews legality of EU acts; the European Court of Human Rights is separate (Council of Europe).

Schengen area removes internal border controls; the euro area shares monetary policy under the ECB; not all EU members belong to either.

Foreign policy instruments: diplomacy, sanctions, development aid, humanitarian intervention, soft power; Poland is a member of UN, NATO, EU, OECD, WTO.

International law sources (ICJ Statute art. 38): treaties, customary law, general principles, judicial decisions and doctrine as subsidiary means.

Law of demand and supply: price rises reduce quantity demanded and raise quantity supplied; equilibrium clears the market; price ceilings create shortages, floors create surpluses.

GDP = C + I + G + (X − M); nominal vs real GDP (adjusted by the deflator); GDP per capita is a rough welfare proxy that omits inequality and environment.

Money functions: medium of exchange, unit of account, store of value; central bank controls money supply and sets interest rates to target inflation.

Inflation erodes purchasing power; demand-pull vs cost-push; the Phillips curve trades off inflation and unemployment in the short run.

Public finance: taxes (direct - income, corporate; indirect - VAT, excise), budget deficit (annual) vs public debt (stock); deficit financing via bonds.

Market failures: public goods (non-rival, non-excludable), externalities, monopolies, asymmetric information - justifications for state intervention.

Entrepreneurship: business plan, forms (sole trader, partnership, limited company), fixed vs variable costs, break-even point where total revenue equals total cost.

Labour market: unemployment types - frictional, structural, cyclical; unemployment rate = unemployed / labour force; minimum wage and unions affect equilibrium wages.

Civil society: voluntary organizations between family and state (NGOs, associations, foundations, trade unions); legal basis in freedom of association.

Polish law: associations require 7 founders and registration in KRS; foundations require a founder and a statute; public benefit organizations (OPP) may receive 1% of income tax.

Media roles: informing, watchdog scrutiny, agenda-setting, opinion formation; media pluralism and independence protect democratic accountability.

Public opinion polling: sample representativeness, margin of error, question wording bias; a random sample of about 1,000 gives roughly ±3 percentage points.

Forms of civic action: voting, petitions, demonstrations, volunteering, consumer boycotts, public consultations, participatory budgeting.

Human rights protection: constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Tribunal, application to the European Court of Human Rights after exhausting domestic remedies.

Freedom of expression limits: hate speech, defamation, incitement; proportionality test for restricting rights - legality, legitimate aim, necessity, proportionality.

Data reading: identify the variable, unit, time span and source first; distinguish absolute values from percentages and index numbers.

Chart types: line (trends over time), bar (comparisons between categories), pie (parts of a whole, only few categories), scatter (correlation, not causation).

Correlation ≠ causation; check for confounders, reverse causality and selection bias before drawing conclusions.

Text analysis: separate thesis from argument; identify claim, evidence, warrant and possible hidden assumptions or rhetorical devices.

Argument types: deductive (valid if premises guarantee conclusion), inductive (probabilistic generalization), analogical (depends on relevant similarity).

Fallacies to detect: ad hominem, straw man, false dilemma, slippery slope, appeal to authority, circular reasoning, post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Reasoned answer structure: state the thesis, define key terms, present evidence from the source, weigh a counterargument, conclude with a justified judgment.

Statistics pitfalls: small samples, base-rate neglect, misleading axis truncation, cherry-picked periods, and averages hiding distribution (use median).