- 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
What, if Anything, Is to Be Done?
What, if Anything, Is to Be Done?
- Chapter:
- (p.534) 17 What, if Anything, Is to Be Done?
- Source:
- The Unheavenly Chorus
- Author(s):
Kay Lehman Schlozman
Sidney Verba
Henry E. Brady
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
This chapter focuses on changes that would have the result of making the participatory input from individuals and organizations more representative of the American public in terms of a variety of politically relevant attributes—not only such demographic characteristics as social class, race, gender, or age but also preferences and needs for government policy. It seeks to provide some analytical hooks to facilitate systematic thinking about the various strategies that might reduce inequalities of political voice, and emphasizes the reasons as to why political change is so difficult to realize and why it is so often a disappointment when it is achieved.
Keywords: political change, political reform, political attributes, participatory input, political voice, inequalities
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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
