The Good Citizen

by Dalton, Russell J.

• ISBN13: 9781604265569
• ISBN10: 1604265566
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-19
• Publisher: Cq Pr

Summary

ABOUT THE REVISED EDITIONBefore the Iowa caucuses, nearly all political analysts believed that the Obama campaign strategy of targeting young Americans was doomed to failure. His election win proved the detractors wrong. In a new epilogue of The Good Citizen, focusing on the 2008 presidential election, Russell Dalton answers questions that are sure to resonate with your students and provide great fodder for lively discussion:Should we be surprised by Obama's appeal to the young engaged citizens? What were the sources of this appeal? Who voted for Obama in November? What are the potential long-term implications of Obama's mobilization of young Americans? ABOUT THE GOOD CITIZEN There has been a growing chorus of political analysts with doomsday predictions of an American public that is uncivil, disengaged, and alienated. And it&BAD:rs"s only getting worse with a younger generation of Americans who do not see the value in voting.The good news is that the bad news is wrong.Russell Dalton uses a new set of national public opinion surveys to show how Americans are changing their views on what good citizenship means. It&BAD:rs"s not about recreating the halcyon politics of a generation ago, but recognition that new patterns of citizenship call for new processes and new institutions that reflect the values of the contemporary American public. Trends in participation, tolerance, and policy priorities reflect a younger generation that is more engaged, more tolerant, and more supportive of social justice. The Good Citizen shows how a younger generation is creating new norms of citizenship that are leading to a renaissance of democratic participation. An important comparative chapter in the book showcases cross-national comparisons that further demonstrate the vitality of American democracy.This book will reshape how we think about the American public, American youth, and the prospects for contemporary democracy. Listen to Russ Dalton discuss the 2008 primaries and The Good Citizen on NPR.Click here to listen.Interview from 'Midday Utah' which airs on KCPW. Interview air date: February 22, 2008. Watch a video of Russ Dalton discussing Barack Obama's appeal to the young.Click here to watch. Listen to Russ Dalton discuss The Good Citizen on Federal News Radio.Click here to listen.Interview from 'The Daily Debrief with Amy Morris' which airs on FederalNewsRadio AM 1050.Interview air date: June 21, 2007.

Author Biography

Russell J. Dalton is professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, and was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Democracy. He has been a Fulbright professor at the University of Mannheim, a German Marshall Research Fellow, and a POSCO Fellow at the East/West Center. His scholarly interests include comparative political behavior, political parties, social movements, and democratic development. His recent publications include Citizen Politics: public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies, Fifth Edition, and Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices: The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies. He is coeditor of The Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior; citizens, Democracy, and Markets around the Pacific Rim; Democracy Transformed?; and Parties without Partisans.

Table of Contents

Tables And Figures	p. xi
Preface to the Revised Edition	p. xv
Citizenship and the Transformation of American Society	p. 1
The Social Transformation of America	p. 6
The Plot of This Book	p. 16
Conclusion18
Defining the Norms of Citizenship
The Meaning and Measurement of Citizenship	p. 20
Citizenship in Theory	p. 21
What Is a "Good" Citizen?	p. 24
The Two Faces of Citizenship	p. 27
The Distribution of Citizenship Norms	p. 29
What Kind of Citizenship	p. 31
Forming Citizenship Norms	p. 34
A Generational Gap?	p. 36
The Rising Tide of Social Status	p. 39
Patterns by Gender and Ethnicity	p. 41
Citizenship and Religion	p. 43
Partisan Differences in Citizenship	p. 45
Bringing the Pieces Together	p. 48
The Social Roots of Citizenship	p. 50
The Consequences of Citizenship
Bowling Alone or Protesting with a Group	p. 53
What Could You Do to Influence the Government?	p. 55
The Myth of the Disengaged American	p. 58
Old Repertoires and New Repertoires	p. 67
Citizenship Norms and Participation	p. 72
Engaged Democrats	p. 75
Tolerating Others	p. 80
How to Measure Political Tolerance	p. 82
The Unconventional Evidence: Rising Political Tolerance	p. 84
Who Is Tolerant and Who Is Not	p. 88
Citizenship and Tolerance	p. 90
Implications of Citizenship and Tolerance	p. 98
Is Government the Problem or the Solution?	p. 101
What Should Government Do?	p. 102
We Want Government to Be a Big Spender	p. 104
Public Policy Preferences	p. 113
Citizenship and Public Policy	p. 115
Images of Leviathan	p. 118
Changing Images of Government	p. 119
America, Right or Wrong	p. 133
In Tocqueville's Footsteps	p. 138
The Norms of Citizenship	p. 140
Comparing the Consequences of Citizenship	p. 147
Citizenship in Comparative Perspective	p. 159
Conclusion
The Two Faces Of Citizenship	p. 161
Rebalancing the American Political Culture	p. 163
Understanding Generation X	p. 168
Tocqueville Revisited	p. 171
Norm Shift and American Democracy	p. 172
Epilogue: Engaged Citizens and the 2008 Presidential Election	p. 179
The Primary Campaign	p. 181
The General Election Campaign	p. 188
The Legacy of 2008	p. 196
Statistical Primer	p. 201
Endnotes	p. 207
Index	p. 227
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