Affluence and influence economic inequality and political power in America
Affluence and influence: economic inequality and political power in America

Can a country be a democracy if its government only responds to the preferences of the rich? In an ideal democracy, all citizens should have equal influence on government policy--but as this book demonstrates, America's policymakers respond almost exclusively to the preferences of the economica...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Gilens, Martin 1957- (VerfasserIn)
Format: Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: New York, NY Russel Sage Foundation 2012
Princeton ; Oxford Princeton University Press 2012
Schlagworte:
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / General
Decision making > United States
Equality > United States
Political planning > United States
Pressure groups > United States
Representative government and representation > United States
Soziale Ungleichheit
Einflussnahme
Repräsentation > Politik
Einkommensunterschied
USA
Online-Zugang:DE-1043
DE-1046
DE-858
DE-Aug4
DE-859
DE-860
DE-188
DE-473
DE-739
Volltext
Zusammenfassung:Can a country be a democracy if its government only responds to the preferences of the rich? In an ideal democracy, all citizens should have equal influence on government policy--but as this book demonstrates, America's policymakers respond almost exclusively to the preferences of the economically advantaged. Affluence and Influence definitively explores how political inequality in the United States has evolved over the last several decades and how this growing disparity has been shaped by interest groups, parties, and elections. With sharp analysis and an impressive range of data, Martin Gilens looks at thousands of proposed policy changes, and the degree of support for each among poor, middle-class, and affluent Americans. His findings are staggering: when preferences of low- or middle-income Americans diverge from those of the affluent, there is virtually no relationship between policy outcomes and the desires of less advantaged groups. In contrast, affluent Americans' preferences exhibit a substantial relationship with policy outcomes whether their preferences are shared by lower-income groups or not. Gilens shows that representational inequality is spread widely across different policy domains and time periods. Yet Gilens also shows that under specific circumstances the preferences of the middle class and, to a lesser extent, the poor, do seem to matter. In particular, impending elections--especially presidential elections--and an even partisan division in Congress mitigate representational inequality and boost responsiveness to the preferences of the broader public. At a time when economic and political inequality in the United States only continues to rise, Affluence and Influence raises important questions about whether American democracy is truly responding to the needs of all its citizens
Beschreibung:1 Online-Ressource (xv, 329 Seiten) Diagramme
ISBN:9781400844821
DOI:10.1515/9781400844821

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