Dalton, RJ. (2002) Citizens Politics.

Chapter 5 Values in Change

Values define the essence of our lives. “We study values because they provide the standards that guide the attitudes and behavior of the public” (82). “People develop a general framework for making these decisions by arranging values in terms of their importance of their importance to the individual” (82).

Inglehart (1977): describes value change as due to a combination of the scarcity hypotheses (we value that which are relatively short in supply), and the socialization hypotheses (our values reflect conditions that prevailed during our preadult years). “once value priorities develop, they tend to endure…” (83). [formative conditions]

Clarke & Nitish (1991) link our values to the ebb and flow of economic conditions. [present circumstances]

Potential values:
Economic growth
A stable economy
More say in work/community
Fight against crime
Protect free speech
Strong defense

Measuring values (86)

“Public values are changing” (96). And there are a diversity. “the mix of values makes it difficult for journalists to discern the public’s priorities” (96).

Chapter 6 Issues and Ideological Orientations
“Issues are the everyday currency of politics. Issue opinions identify the public’s preferences for government action and their expectations for the political process. Political parties are largely defined by their issue positions, and elections provide a means for the public to select between the competing issue programs they offer” (100).

“Issue opinions also represent the translation of broad value orientations into specific political concerns. Issues are partially determined by the values examined in the last chapter, as well as by other factors: cues from political elites, the flow of political events, and the contexts of specific situations. For example a persn may favor the principle of equal rights for all citizens; but attitudes towards voting rights, job discrimination, school busing, and open housing, and other civil rights legislation represents different mixes of values and practical concerns. Consequently, issue opinions are more changeable and valued than broad value orientations” (100).

“Issue opinions are a dynamic aspect of politics, and the theme of changing popular values can be carried over to the study of issues” (100).

“People are changing their opinions on many issues. Attitudes on equality issues display a dramatic shift over the past generation…” toward a more liberal orientation. (119).

Public Opinion and Political Change (121)
Issue interest has expanded (environmental issues. Etc). “The expansion of the boundaries of politics to include these new issues has several implications for the nature of contemporary politics. Governments have increased the scope of their activity: now they must worry not only about economic policy but also whether the environment is clean and whether personal life choices are tolerated… The proliferation of issue publics also changes the structure of political representation and decision making. Issue publics focus their effort to maximize representation on their issue, but the proliferation of such interests probably increases the complexity of the governing process…Policymakers thus see conflicting signals emanating from the public, without a method (or perhaps motivation) to resolve these conflicts systematically…One of the challenges facing contemporary government is how to adapt the democratic process to this different pattern of interest representation” (122).
VOTING

“The new style of citizen politics therefore should include a more fluid and volatile pattern of party alignments. Political coalitions and voting patterns will lack the permanence of past class and religious cleavages. Whithou clear social cues, voting decisions will become a more demanding task for voters—more dependent on the individual beliefs and values and citizens” (175).
PARTISANSHIP
“Each election presents voters with a choices over polici proposals and candidates for office. While social characteristics and group cues may be a basis for making decisions, citizens also hold a variety of political beliefs and values that affect their electoral calculus. Often, these considerations go beyond group ties or the perceptions derived from group cues. Consequently, contemporary electoral research emphasizes the attitudes and values of voters as key factors in understanding electoral choice…Citizens make judgments about which party best represents their interests, and these perceptions guide voting behavior. Attitudes toward the issues and candidates of an election are thus a necessary outcome in any realistic model of voting. Attitudes are also changeable, and their incorporation into a voting model helps explain variation in arty results across elections” (177).

The sociopsychological model of voting (178-ish)
Partisan attachments + specific issue opinions

Partisan attitudes:
Partisan loyalties serve as a cue (179). …a low cost cue (187). They make politics “user-friendly” (185). “The cue-giving function of partisanship is clearly sees for voting behavior. Partisanship means that voters enter an election with a predisposition to support their preferred party. Philip Converse (1966) described partisanship as the basis for a “normal vote”—the vote expected when other factors in the election are evenly balanced. If other factors come into play, such as issue positions or candidate images, their influence can be measured by their ability to cause defections from standing partisan commitments” (187).

But in the US there are a vast collection of partisan candidates to choose from. “Thus the separation between attitudes and behavior is most noticeable in American elections…” (187)… “In highly visible and politicized presidential elections, candidate images and issue appeals have the potential to counteract partisan preferences, and thus party defections are common in these elections” (187).

Party bonds are strongest among older voters. Partisans tend to be more politically active (186).

Party dealignment (188)
Consequences (191)
-weakening partisan-centered voting choice
-increase in fluidity of voting patterns
-decline in participation
-rise in issue concerns and candidates (their party-cue is GONE)

Structural Causes (193-194)
Cognitive Mobilization Theory Typology (195)

Some voters remain oriented to politics based on their partisan attachments (cognitive partisans, ritual partisans) whereas other voters remain oriented to politics on their own (apartisans, cognitive partisans).
TWO MOBILIZING DIMENSIONS: PARTISANSHIP, COGNITIVE
1.Apoliticals-unmobilized
2.Ritual Partisans-PARTISAN mobilized
3.Cognitive Partisans-highly ranked on both mobilizing dimensions.
4.Apartisans-cognitively mobilized


chapter 10; ATTITUDES AND ELECTORAL BEHAVIOR (201)
“Issues and candidates give political meaning to the partisan attachements and social divisions we have discussed in earler chapters” (201)….issue beliefs and candidate images explan the ebbs and flows of voting outcomes over time” (201).

ISSUE VOTING (202):
Framework: performance (candidates’effectiveness) and position (defines the conflict).

CANDIDATE IMAGES (215):
Prototype literature

We are more politically sophisticated, today (220). Consequences (220); i.e. what about people who are not (221).

Chapter 11; political representation (223)
“In the broadest sense of the term, the representativeness of elite attitude is measured by their similarity to the overall attitudes of the public” (224).

Domestic policy options
Socioeconomic issues and the state
Big vs small government: “In comparison to most EUs, America are more reserved in their acceptance of government action” (103).
Race and Equality
Gender Issues (110)
Environmental Protection
Social and Moral Issues (114) “…Americans are more conservative than EUs on social and moral issues. This pattern is likely the result of national differences in religious feelings… The US is among the most religious of Western societies. American chruch attendance and religious feelings are among the highest in the work. A full 96 percent of America considered say they believe in God, compared to 60-70 percent among EUs.