PSC 436 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Dealignment, Public Participation
5 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
Citizen politics is about the average citizen the driving force of the democratic process, Social and civic engagement have declined, intolerance is spreading, increased skepticism, general feeling of uneasiness than democracy isn"t working erodes foundations. Lack of trust in gov"t (or other citizens) is an indication that gov"t is failing, but lack of trust also causes democracy to fail. Long-term social change has improved income/living standards. Decreased crime, increased life expectancy, more leisure time, women and minorities. Both perspectives are valid, and debate is due to massive social changes since 50s. have more rights. Responsiveness of the system to popular demands. Attempting to understand or predict human behavior. Use surveys: allows researchers to observe behavior and study motivations/expectations guiding behavior. Share broad similarities in functioning of democratic processes and citizen"s role. If they do not, then we learn something new. Provide a new window for study of your own country. Dalton examines the u. s. , great britain, germany, and france.
