Author: Nancy Burns Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674029089 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 470
Book Description
Why, after several generations of suffrage and a revival of the women's movement in the late 1960s, do women continue to be less politically active than men? Why are they less likely to seek public office or join political organizations? The Private Roots of Public Action is the most comprehensive study of this puzzle of unequal participation. The authors develop new methods to trace gender differences in political activity to the nonpolitical institutions of everyday life--the family, school, workplace, nonpolitical voluntary association, and church. Different experiences with these institutions produce differences in the resources, skills, and political orientations that facilitate participation--with a cumulative advantage for men. In addition, part of the solution to the puzzle of unequal participation lies in politics itself: where women hold visible public office, women citizens are more politically interested and active. The model that explains gender differences in participation is sufficiently general to apply to participatory disparities among other groups--among the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly or among Latinos, African-Americans and Anglo-Whites.
Author: Sidney Verba Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674942936 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 668
Book Description
This book confirms the idea put forth by Tocqueville that American democracy is rooted in civic voluntarism—citizens’ involvement in family, work, school, and religion, as well as in their political participation as voters, campaigners, protesters, or community activists. The authors analyze civic activity with a massive survey of 15,000 people.
Author: Jennifer L. Hochschild Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674950870 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 364
Book Description
Using a long questionnaire and in-depth interviews, Hochschild examines the ideals and contemporary practices of Americans on the subject of distributive justice, and discovers neither the rich nor the nonrich support the downward redistribution of wealth.
Author: Katherine Tate Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674325401 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 276
Book Description
The struggle for civil rights among black Americans has moved into the voting booth. How such a shift came about--and what it means--is revealed in this timely reflection on black presidential politics in recent years. Since 1984, largely as a result of Jesse Jackson's presidential bid, blacks have been galvanized politically. Drawing on a substantial national survey of black voters, Katherine Tate shows how this process manifested itself at the polls in 1984 and 1988. In an analysis of the black presidential vote by region, income, age, and gender, she is able to identify unique aspects of the black experience as they shape political behavior, and to answer long-standing questions about that behavior. How, for instance, does the rise of conservatism among blacks influence their voting patterns? Is class more powerful than race in determining voting? And what is the value of the notion of a black political party? In the 1990s, Tate suggests, black organizations will continue to stress civil rights over economic development for one clear, compelling reason: Republican resistance to addressing black needs. In this, and in the friction engendered by affirmative action, she finds an explanation for the slackening of black voting. Tate does not, however, see blacks abandoning the political game. Instead, she predicts their continued search for leaders who prefer the ballot box to other kinds of protest, and for men and women who can deliver political programs of racial equality. Unique in its focus on the black electorate, this study illuminates a little understood and tremendously significant aspect of American politics. It will benefit those who wish to understand better the subtle interplay of race and politics, at the voting booth and beyond.
Author: Douglas J. Macdonald Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674005778 Category : Asia Languages : en Pages : 390
Book Description
Can--or should--the United States try to promote reform in client states in the Third World? This question, which reverberates through American foreign policy, is at the heart of Adventures in Chaos. A faltering friendly state, in danger of falling to hostile forces, presents the U.S. with three options: withdraw, bolster the existing government, or try to reform it. Douglas Macdonald defines the circumstances that call these policy options into play, combining an analysis of domestic politics in the U. S., cognitive theories of decision making, and theories of power relations drawn from sociology, economics, and political science. He examines the conditions that promote the reformist option and then explores strategies for improving the success of reformist intervention in the future. In order to identify problems in this policy--and to propose solutions--Macdonald focuses on three case studies of reformist intervention in Asia: China, 1946-1948; the Philippines, 1950-1953; and Vietnam, 1961-1963. Striking similarities in these cases suggest that such policy dilemmas are a function of the global role played by the U.S., especially during the Cold War. Though this role is changing, Macdonald foresees future applications for the lessons his study offers. A challenge to the conventional wisdom on reformist intervention, Adventures in Chaos--through extensive archival research--displays a theoretical and historical depth often lacking in treatments of the subject.
Author: Christian Meier Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674362321 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 324
Book Description
Why the Greeks? How did it happen that these people--out of all Mediterranean societies--developed democratic systems of government? The outstanding German historian of the ancient world, Christian Meier, reconstructs the process of political thinking in Greek culture that led to democracy. He demonstrates that the civic identity of the Athenians was a direct precondition for the practical reality of this form of government. Meier shows how the structure of Greek communal life gave individuals a civic role and discusses a crucial reform that institutionalized the idea of equality before the law. In Greek drama--specifically Aeschylus' Oresteia--he finds reflections of the ascendancy of civil law and of a politicizing of life in the city-state. He examines the role of the leader as well as citizen participation in Athenian democracy and describes an ancient equivalent of the idea of social progress. He also contrasts the fifth-century Greek political world with today's world, drawing revealing comparisons. The Greek Discovery of Politics is important reading for ancient historians, classicists, political scientists, and anyone interested in the history of political thought or in the culture of ancient Greece.
Author: Christine Day Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317342569 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 128
Book Description
A supplemental text for courses on Interest Groups, American Political Parties, Campaigns and Elections, and Women and Politics, and other Women's Studies courses. Filling the gap in knowledge about women's political action committees (PACs), this useful text examines the attitudes, priorities, and motivations of individuals who contribute significant amounts of money to the political scene. The three PACs examined are EMILY's List (supporting Democratic pro-choice women candidates); the WISH List (supporting Republican pro-choice women candidates); and the Susan B. Anthony List (supporting pro-life women candidates and pro-life men opposing pro-choice women candidates). Based on survey data as well as face-to-face interviews, this book shows how PACs have narrowed the gender gap in U.S. electoral politics.
Author: Brenda O'Neill Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1135416486 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 434
Book Description
The volume brings together a stellar group of contributors who examine the social capital thesis by means of four different approaches: theoretical, historical, comparative, and empirical. In the end, this book will serve to answer two fundamental questions which have hitherto been neglected: What can a gendered analysis tell us about social capital? And what can social capital tell us about women and politics?
Author: Nancy Burns
Author: Sidney Verba
Author: Jennifer L. Hochschild
Author: Katherine Tate
Author: Douglas W. Rae
Author: Douglas J. Macdonald
Author: Christian Meier
Author: Christine Day
Author: Brenda O'Neill
Author: Barbara Norrander