Political Participation In America Research Articles

:The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America

:<i>The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America</i>

Review: The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America, by Sharon D. Wright Austin

Review: <i>The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America</i>, by Sharon D. Wright Austin

The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America. By Sharon D. Wright Austin. SUNY Series in African American Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2018. 257 pp. $25.95 (paper)

The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America. By Sharon D. Wright Austin. SUNY Series in African American Studies. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2018. 257 pp. $25.95 (paper)

The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America

The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America

The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America. By Sharon D. Wright Austin. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2018. 272p. $95.00 cloth, $25.95 paper.

The Caribbeanization of Black Politics: Race, Group Consciousness, and Political Participation in America. By Sharon D. Wright Austin. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2018. 272p. 25.95 paper. - Volume 17 Issue 1

Youth Political Participation: Bridging Activism and Electoral Politics

What is the relationship between social movements and electoral politics? Although the empirical reality of American politics has increasingly blurred the lines between activism and electoral politics, sociology has yet to explore these changes and provide theoretical and methodological tools to understand them. Focusing on the experience of young Americans, this review explores this relationship and outlines opportunities for future research. It is broken down into three sections. First, I review the main themes in the study of youth political participation in America. Second, using examples from the 2008 election, the article examines recent increases in youth participation. Third and finally, this article discusses the case of the Obama campaign, its transition into the Democratic National Committee's Organizing for America, and aspects of the 2012 election to highlight the complex relationship between movements and electoral politics in America today. The paper concludes by highlighting opportunities for sociologists to bridge the connections between activism and electoral politics in new and meaningful ways.

Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America – By Lawrence R. Jacobs, Fay Lomax Cook, and Michael X. Delli Carpini

Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America – By Lawrence R. Jacobs, Fay Lomax Cook, and Michael X. Delli Carpini

Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America. By Lawrence R. Jacobs, Fay Lomax Cook, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. (University of Chicago Press, 2009.)

<i>Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America</i>. By Lawrence R. Jacobs, Fay Lomax Cook, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. (University of Chicago Press, 2009.)

Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America. By Lawrence R. Jacobs, Fay Lomax Cook, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. 224p. $21.00.

Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America. By Lawrence R. Jacobs, Fay Lomax Cook, and Michael X. Delli Carpini. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. 224p. $21.00. - Volume 8 Issue 3

Talking Together: Public Deliberation and Political Participation in America

Challenging the conventional wisdom that Americans are less engaged than ever in national life and the democratic process, Talking Together paints the most comprehensive portrait available of public deliberation in the United States and explains why it is important to America's future. The authors' original and extensive research reveals how, when, and why citizens talk to each other about the issues of the day. They find that - in settings ranging from one-on-one conversations to e-mail exchanges to larger and more formal gatherings - a surprising two-thirds of Americans regularly participate in public discussions about such pressing issues as the Iraq War, economic development, and race relations. Pinpointing the real benefits of public discourse while considering arguments that question its importance, Talking Together presents an authoritative and clear-eyed assessment of deliberation's function in American governance. In the process, it offers concrete recommendations for increasing the power of talk to foster political action.

The Political Incorporation of Muslims in America: The Role of Religiosity in Islam

Previous scholars have argued that Islam as a religion and a culture is incompatible with liberal, democratic American values. Not only is Islam inconsistent with the West, but it poses a direct conflict according to some scholars. This viewpoint has been popularized in American and European media and by government officials who declare fundamentalist Muslims as enemies of freedom and democracy. However, there is no evidence that the grounds of conflict are based on religious ideology. Are the most devout Muslims really opposed to political incorporation in the U.S., or are other traditional non-religious factors such as socioeconomic status and acculturation more important in understanding political alienation? To date, nearly every study of Islam and Western values has been qualitative, anecdotal or philosophical in nature, leaving most questions unanswered, at least empirically. Using a unique national survey of Muslim Americans, we find that more religiously devout Muslims are significantly more likely to support political participation in America - in contrast to prevailing wisdom. We conclude that there is nothing inconsistent with Islam and American democracy, and in fact, religiosity fosters support for American democratic values.

Citizenship Norms and the Expansion of Political Participation

A growing chorus of scholars laments the apparent decline of political participation in America, and the negative implications of this trend for American democracy. This article questions this position – arguing that previous studies misdiagnosed the sources of political change and the consequences of changing norms of citizenship for Americans' political engagement. Citizenship norms are shifting from a pattern of duty-based citizenship to engaged citizenship. Using data from the 2005 ‘Citizenship, Involvement, Democracy’ survey of the Center for Democracy and Civil Society (CDACS) I describe these two faces of citizenship, and trace their impact on political participation. Rather than the erosion of participation, this norm shift is altering and expanding the patterns of political participation in America.

Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Participation in America

Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Participation in America

Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Participation in America

Silent Voices: Public Opinion and Political Participation in America

Religious Institutions and Political Participation in America

Previous research on religious institutions and political participation finds that churches can increase participation among their members through the development of civic skills and the distinct political histories of religious traditions. This paper examines the various ways religious institutions promote the political participation of their members. We utilize the 1990 Citizen Participation Study to test seven hypotheses about the connections between religious institutions and political participation. We find, contrary to previous work, that church‐gained civic skills and religious tradition do not directly affect political participation among those currently active in religious institutions. Rather, churches bring their parishioners more effectively into the political process through the recruitment of members to politics and when members come to see their church activity as having political consequences.

Positive Theory and Voice and Equality

S idney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady (VSB) have concentrated scholarly attention on the inequality of political voice in America. Employing an innovative survey design that produced a novel data set of political activists, VSB demonstrate that activists and nonactivists have different sets of policy concerns and that different modes of participation send different messages to public officials. In short, the participatory process-which they argue is based on citizen resources, psychological engagement, and access to networks-is biased. More participatory equality would yield a different mix of policy messages to political leaders. We asked three senior scholars, who approach the problem of participation in America from different angles, to evaluate VSB's work. They declare Voice and Equality a modern masterpiece of political science and probe the best they can for weakness. John H. Aldrich emphasizes positive theory. He stresses the limits to assuming that all acts of political participation are part of the same theoretical universe and therefore to constructing a measure of the overall volume of participation. Aldrich argues that only a domain-specific approach to participation (e.g., elections, community action, interest-group politics) that focuses on an actor's goals and his or her interactions with other actors and institutions in the domain can explain why someone is an activist. Jane Mansbridge highlights normative theory. She observes that adversarial theories of democracy suggest that the inequality of participation matters because it affects the Who gets what? question, while participatory theories of democracy suggest that inequality matters because it affects the Who are we as citizens? question. Mansbridge argues that research must be concerned with both the distributive and educative effects of participation. Finally, Jennifer L. Hochschild stresses practical politics. For example, she notes the limits of VSB's finding that group identity is irrelevant to political activism. Hochschild proposes an empirical investigation of how group-specific factors (e.g., black consciousness) affect participation. In sum, the reviewers maintain that VSB's general theory of political participation in America must address contextually specific and historically disaggregated factors: particular goals and domains of political activity, the redefinition of political values that occurs during the political process, and group-level forces of identity and consciousness. In a rejoinder, VSB defend their work and yet graciously accept the many useful suggestions made by Aldrich, Mansbridge, and Hochschild. The discipline's ongoing research agenda should explore participation, representation, and democracy in America.

Political Participation in America: A Review Essay

Political participation is an important subject in any democratic state. Who participates, in what ways, why, and with what effect are all topics of concern to the theorist and politician and, hopefully, to the everyday citizen. Many of our ideas on participation, so prominently displayed in the literature, were not empirically tested until survey methodology was developed in the post-World War II period. The pioneering work of the Columbia and Michigan election studies, in particular, cast doubt on the theorist's assumption of an enlightened and involved citizenry. Other research studies contributed further data and fact, continuing to reduce our uncertainty about what political participation meant to the individual. In 1972, what was heralded as the all-embracing study on participation was published: Sidney Verba and Norman Nie's Participation in America. Based on survey material collected from a national sample of the electorate in 1967, this study attempted to examine the entire Eastonian model as applied to participation the ways people participate in politics (the system or process), and the causes (inputs) and consequences (outputs) of this participation. The following is a summary of Verba and Nie's major substantive and empirical findings with a later review of them in light of the conceptual and analytic techniques they employ, the past literature in the field, and the recent developments in our political system.