Prior to publication there had been little study of the political role of women. Gender had been seen only as a background variable in social surveys of political behaviour, and women had rarely been extensively or separately considered. Now, in essays specially written for this volume, first published in 1981, the authors map out the political behaviour of women in twenty ‘industrially developed’ countries, bringing together and analysing contemporary material on a variety of topics, such as voting, standing for public office, entering the political elite, and engaging in political activity outside the formal structures of government. In each chapter the history of women’s political activity is outlined, from the first movements for female suffrage and emancipation to the new political involvement occasioned by the women’s movements of the 1970s. The impact of differing political systems on the experience of women is considered, and some striking similarities and differences are pointed out. It has been generally agreed that women’s participation in politics has been less than that of men, although reasons postulated for this have varied widely. The essays in this book offer further suggestions in this area, while charting a steady increase in activity by women in all political spheres as feminism politicises issues previously restricted to private or male-dominated spheres and women become increasingly concerned to participate in the political process. The authors indicate current trends and explode prevailing myths and the ‘second electorate’, and they suggest future possibilities, both for Political Woman and the Political Science which must take account of feminist political activity. Students of social and political science, readers seeking comprehensive, cross-national coverage of party and election data, and all interested women will find the book to be a mine of information and a rare and readable picture of half the world’s electorate.

Discusses President Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to defy one hundred fifty years of tradition and seek a third term in office.

The 2016 elections took place under intense political polarization and uncertain economic conditions, to widely unexpected results. How did Trump pull off his victory? Political Behavior of the American Electorate, Fourteenth Edition, attempts to answer this question by interpreting data from the most recent American National Election Study to provide a thorough analysis of the 2016 elections and the current American political behavior. Authors Elizabeth Theiss-Morse and Michael Wagner continue the tradition of Flanigan and Zingale to illustrate and document trends in American political behavior with the best longitudinal data available. The authors also put these trends in context by focusing on the major concepts and characteristics that shape Americans’ responses to politics. In the completely revised Fourteenth Edition, you will explore get-out-the-vote efforts and the reasons people voted the way they did, as well as the nature and impact of partisanship, news media coverage, and other issues in 2016—all with an eye toward understanding the trends that led up to the historic decision.

This book explores the nature of electoral change in Britain during the last half century. The period from 1945-70 was the classic era of two-party dominance at every level of British politics: at Westminster, county hall, and in the electorate. Since the early seventies Conservative and Labour hegemony has remained virtually unaltered in Parliament, but their grip has been loosened in local government, and the popular foundations of the two-party system have been eroded among voters. Why has Britain evolved from a dominant to a declining two-party system during the last fifty years? This study considers alternative explanations for these developments, focusing on changes in voters, parties, and political communications. The book provides students with a fresh and accessible perspective on theories of electoral change, placing developments in Britain within their broader comparative context, and challenging many conventional assumptions about trends in voting behaviour.

A central current in the history of democratic politics is the tensions between the political culture of an informed citizenry and the potentially antidemocratic impulses of the larger mass of individuals who are only marginally involved in the political world. Given the public's low level of political interest and knowledge, it is paradoxical that the democratic system works at all. In The Paradox of Mass Politics W. Russell Neuman analyzes the major election surveys in the United States for the period 1948-1980 and develops for each a central index of political sophistication based on measures of political interest, knowledge, and style of political conceptualization. Taking a fresh look at the dramatic findings of public apathy and ignorance, he probes the process by which citizens acquire political knowledge and the impact of their knowledge on voting behavior. The book challenges the commonly held view that politically oriented college-educated individuals have a sophisticated grasp of the fundamental political issues of the day and do not rely heavily on vague political symbolism and party identification in their electoral calculus. In their expression of political opinions and in the stability and coherence of those opinions over time, the more knowledgeable half of the population, Neuman concludes, is almost indistinguishable from the other half. This is, in effect, a second paradox closely related to the first. In an attempt to resolve a major and persisting paradox of political theory, Neuman develops a model of three publics, which more accurately portrays the distribution of political knowledge and behavior in the mass population. He identifies a stratum of apoliticals, a large middle mass, and a politically sophisticated elite. The elite is so small (less than 5 percent) that the beliefs and behavior of its member are lost in the large random samples of national election surveys, but so active and articulate that its views are often equated with public opinion at large by the powers in Washington. The key to the paradox of mass politics is the activity of this tiny stratum of persons who follow political issues with care and expertise. This book is essential reading for concerned students of American politics, sociology, public opinion, and mass communication.