TY - BOOK AU - Schlozman,Kay Lehman AU - Brady,Henry E. AU - Verba,Sidney TI - The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy SN - 9780691159867 AV - JK1764 U1 - 323/.0420973 23 PY - 2012///] CY - Princeton, NJ : PB - Princeton University Press, KW - Democracy KW - United States KW - Equality KW - Political participation KW - Pressure groups KW - POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political ideologies / Democracy KW - bisacsh KW - ANES panel studies KW - America KW - American civic culture KW - American democracy KW - Internet KW - Supreme Court decisions KW - Washington pressure community KW - Washington representation KW - advantaged KW - age groups KW - age KW - business interests KW - class bias KW - class differences KW - class inequalities KW - class inequality KW - cohort effects KW - creative participation KW - democracy KW - democratic dilemma KW - democratic governance KW - differential voice KW - disadvantaged KW - economic inequality KW - economic interests KW - educated parents KW - educational attainment KW - egalitarians KW - elections KW - electoral democracy KW - empirical analysis KW - equal consideration KW - equal political voice KW - equal voice KW - equality KW - family background KW - federal constitution KW - free rider problem KW - home politics KW - inequalities KW - life-cycle effects KW - material well-being KW - median voter model KW - national politics KW - nonvoters KW - organizational activity KW - organized interest activity KW - organized interest influence KW - organized interest politics KW - organized interest representation KW - organized interest system KW - organized interests KW - organized representation KW - parental education KW - participatory advantage KW - participatory inequalities KW - participatory patterns KW - policy benefits KW - political activism KW - political activity KW - political advantage KW - political conflict KW - political division KW - political inactivity KW - political inequality KW - political involvement KW - political organizations KW - political outcomes KW - political participation KW - political polarization KW - political processes KW - political recruitment KW - political voice KW - pressure community KW - pressure politics KW - pressure system KW - public officials KW - public opinion KW - public policy KW - rational prospecting KW - resource constraint KW - resource constraints KW - resource deprived KW - resource disadvantaged KW - social class KW - social processes KW - socio-economic status KW - socio-economic stratification KW - state constitutions KW - strategic considerations KW - survey data KW - surveys KW - systematic empirical data KW - trade-offs KW - unequal political voice KW - union membership KW - voluntary associations KW - voters KW - voting power KW - voting strength KW - voting KW - websites N1 - Frontmatter --; Contents --; List of Figures --; List of Tables --; Preface --; Acknowledgments --; 1. Introduction: Democracy and Political Voice --; Part I. Th inking about Inequality and Political Voice --; 2. The (Ambivalent) Tradition of Equality in America --; 3. The Context: Growing Economic Inequality and Weakening Unions --; 4. Equal Voice and the Dilemmas of Democracy --; 5. Does Unequal Political Voice Matter? --; 6. The Persistence of Unequal Voice --; 7. Unequal at the Starting Line: The Intergenerational Persistence of Political Inequality --; 8. Political Participation over the Life Cycle --; 9. Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization --; Part III. Inequality of Political Voice and Organized Interest Activity --; 10. Political Voice through Organized Interests: Introductory Matters --; 11. Who Sings in the Heavenly Chorus? The Shape of the Organized Interest System --; 12. The Changing Pressure Community --; 13. Beyond Organizational Categories --; 14. Political Voice through Organized Interest Activity --; Part IV. Can We Change the Accent of the Unheavenly Chorus? --; 15. Breaking the Pattern through Political Recruitment --; 16. Weapon of the Strong? Participatory Inequality and the Internet --; 17. What, if Anything, Is to Be Done? --; 18. Conclusion: Equal Voice and the Promise of American Democracy --; Appendixes --; Appendix A: Equality and the State and U.S. Constitutions --; Appendix B: The Persistence of Political and Nonpolitical Activity --; Appendix C: The Intergenerational Transmission of Political Participation --; Appendix D: Age, Period, and Cohort Effects --; Appendix E: The Washington Representatives Database --; Appendix F: Additional Tables --; Appendix G: Do Online and Offline Political Activists Differ from One Another? --; Index; restricted access; Issued also in print N2 - Politically active individuals and organizations make huge investments of time, energy, and money to influence everything from election outcomes to congressional subcommittee hearings to local school politics, while other groups and individual citizens seem woefully underrepresented in our political system. The Unheavenly Chorus is the most comprehensive and systematic examination of political voice in America ever undertaken--and its findings are sobering. The Unheavenly Chorus is the first book to look at the political participation of individual citizens alongside the political advocacy of thousands of organized interests--membership associations such as unions, professional associations, trade associations, and citizens groups, as well as organizations like corporations, hospitals, and universities. Drawing on numerous in-depth surveys of members of the public as well as the largest database of interest organizations ever created--representing more than thirty-five thousand organizations over a twenty-five-year period--this book conclusively demonstrates that American democracy is marred by deeply ingrained and persistent class-based political inequality. The well educated and affluent are active in many ways to make their voices heard, while the less advantaged are not. This book reveals how the political voices of organized interests are even less representative than those of individuals, how political advantage is handed down across generations, how recruitment to political activity perpetuates and exaggerates existing biases, how political voice on the Internet replicates these inequalities--and more. In a true democracy, the preferences and needs of all citizens deserve equal consideration. Yet equal consideration is only possible with equal citizen voice. The Unheavenly Chorus reveals how far we really are from the democratic ideal and how hard it would be to attain it UR - https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400841912?locatt=mode:legacy UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781400841912 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/cover/covers/9781400841912.jpg ER -