How Policies Make Citizens

by Campbell, Andrea Louise

• ISBN13: 9780691091891
• ISBN10: 0691091897
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Some groups participate in politics more than others. Why? And does it matter for policy outcomes? In this richly detailed and fluidly written book, Andrea Campbell argues that democratic participation and public policy powerfully reinforce each other. Through a case study of senior citizens in the United States and their political activity around Social Security, she shows how highly participatory groups get their policy preferences fulfilled, and how public policy itself helps create political inequality. Using a wealth of unique survey and historical data, Campbell shows how the development of Social Security helped transform seniors from the most beleaguered to the most politically active age group. Thus empowered, seniors actively defend their programs from proposed threats, shaping policy outcomes. The participatory effects are strongest for low-income seniors, who are most dependent on Social Security. The program thus reduces political inequality within the senior population--a laudable effect--while increasing inequality between seniors and younger citizens. A brief look across policies shows that program effects are not always positive. Welfare recipients are even less participatory than their modest socioeconomic backgrounds would imply, because of the demeaning and disenfranchising process of proving eligibility. Campbell concludes that program design profoundly shapes the nature of democratic citizenship. And proposed policies--such as Social Security privatization--must be evaluated for both their economic and political effects, because the very quality of democratic government is influenced by the kinds of policies it chooses.

Author Biography

Andrea Louise Campbell is Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

List Of Figures	p. ix
List Of Tables	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction: The Reciprocal Participation-Policy Relationship	p. 1
Overview: Rising Senior Participation and the Growth of the American Welfare State	p. 14
A Model of Senior Citizen Political Participation	p. 38
Senior Citizen Participation and Policy over ime	p. 65
Policy Threat and Seniors' Distinctive Political Voice	p. 93
Congressional Responsiveness	p. 115
The Reciprocal Participation-Policy Relationship across Programs	p. 125
Participation, Policymaking, and the Political Implications of Program Design	p. 138
Supplementary Tables	p. 147
Two-Stage Social Security Participation Model	p. 161
Senior/Nonsenior Mobilization Ratios by Party, 1956-96	p. 165
Multiple Interrupted Time-Series Analysis	p. 166
Notes	p. 169
References	p. 205
Index	p. 221
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