- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: Democracy and Political Voice
- 2 The (Ambivalent) Tradition of Equality in America
- 3 The Context: Growing Economic Inequality and Weakening Unions
- 4 Equal Voice and the Dilemmas of Democracy
- 5 Does Unequal Political Voice Matter?
- 6 The Persistence of Unequal Voice
- 7 Unequal at the Starting Line: The Intergenerational Persistence of Political Inequality
- 8 Political Participation over the Life Cycle
- 9 Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization
- 10 Political Voice through Organized Interests: Introductory Matters
- 11 Who Sings in the Heavenly Chorus? The Shape of the Organized Interest System
- 12 The Changing Pressure Community
- 13 Beyond Organizational Categories
- 14 Political Voice through Organized Interest Activity
- 15 Breaking the Pattern through Political Recruitment
- 16 Weapon of the Strong? Participatory Inequality and the Internet
- 17 What, if Anything, Is to Be Done?
- 18 Conclusion: Equal Voice and the Promise of American Democracy
- Appendix A Equality and the State and U.S. Constitutions
- Appendix B The Persistence of Political and Nonpolitical Activity
- Appendix C The Intergenerational Transmission of Political Participation
- Appendix D Age, Period, and Cohort Effects
- Appendix E The Washington Representatives Database
- Appendix F Additional Tables
- Appendix G Do Online and Offline Political Activists Differ from One Another?
- Index
Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization
Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization
- Chapter:
- (p.232) 9 Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization
- Source:
- The Unheavenly Chorus
- Author(s):
Kay Lehman Schlozman
Sidney Verba
Henry E. Brady
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
This chapter uses evidence about political activity to shed light on two puzzles. First, the chapter considers why, in a two-party system with equal voting, contrary to the logic of the median voter model, the majority who have incomes at the lower end of the economic ladder do not use their voting power to foster public policies that redistribute wealth from those above the median. Second, the chapter looks at why the two parties and their candidates do not converge at the preferences of the median voter but instead offer genuine policy alternatives. In response, the chapter reveals that voters are not equal in their voting strength.
Keywords: political activism, elections, electoral democracy, political polarization, voting, voters, voting strength, median voter model, voting power, survey data
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction: Democracy and Political Voice
- 2 The (Ambivalent) Tradition of Equality in America
- 3 The Context: Growing Economic Inequality and Weakening Unions
- 4 Equal Voice and the Dilemmas of Democracy
- 5 Does Unequal Political Voice Matter?
- 6 The Persistence of Unequal Voice
- 7 Unequal at the Starting Line: The Intergenerational Persistence of Political Inequality
- 8 Political Participation over the Life Cycle
- 9 Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization
- 10 Political Voice through Organized Interests: Introductory Matters
- 11 Who Sings in the Heavenly Chorus? The Shape of the Organized Interest System
- 12 The Changing Pressure Community
- 13 Beyond Organizational Categories
- 14 Political Voice through Organized Interest Activity
- 15 Breaking the Pattern through Political Recruitment
- 16 Weapon of the Strong? Participatory Inequality and the Internet
- 17 What, if Anything, Is to Be Done?
- 18 Conclusion: Equal Voice and the Promise of American Democracy
- Appendix A Equality and the State and U.S. Constitutions
- Appendix B The Persistence of Political and Nonpolitical Activity
- Appendix C The Intergenerational Transmission of Political Participation
- Appendix D Age, Period, and Cohort Effects
- Appendix E The Washington Representatives Database
- Appendix F Additional Tables
- Appendix G Do Online and Offline Political Activists Differ from One Another?
- Index
