Citizens, Politics and Social Communication: Information and Influence in an Election CampaignDemocratic politics is a collective enterprise, not simply because individual votes are counted to determine winners, but more fundamentally because the individual exercise of citizenship is an interdependent undertaking. Citizens argue with and inform one another, arriving at political decisions through processes of social interaction and deliberation. This book is dedicated to investigating the political implications of interdependent citizens within the context of the 1984 presidential election campaign as it was experienced in the metropolitan area of South Bend, Indiana. National politics is experienced locally through a series of filters unique to a particular setting. Several different themes are explored: the dynamic implications of social communication among citizens, the importance of communication networks for citizen decision-making, the exercise of citizen purpose in locating sources of information, the constraints on individual choice, and institutional and organizational effects . |
Contents
II Electoral dynamics and social communication | 43 |
Ill Networks political discussants and socialcommunication | 101 |
IV The organizational locus of social communication | 205 |
| 293 | |
| 303 | |
Other editions - View all
Citizens, Politics and Social Communication: Information and Influence in an ... R. Robert Huckfeldt,John Sprague No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
abortion attitudes aggregate analysis ballot choice behavioral contagion bumper stickers candidate Catholics chapter church coefficients contextual effects cross-party voting democratic politics Democratic primary disagreement discuss politics discussant effect discussant preference discussant's discussion partners durability dyads dynamic ecological fallacy election campaign electoral environment equilibrium estimates factors gender important individual education individual-level interac interaction variable interdependent interviews Joseph County located logit model main respondent main respondent's measures microsociological minority Mondale voters networks non-Catholics nonrelative discussants Nonvoter opinion parish participation particular partisan partisanship party contact party identification party organizations patterns perceived percent political behavior political discussion political information political preferences primary election probability produce Projected Reagan question Reagan support Reagan voters regarding reinforcement relationships relative Republican primary sample social communication social context social influence social interaction social structure spouses survey t-values Table third-wave tion V. O. Key variables volatility vote choice voted for Reagan yard signs