Mass Politics in Advanced Industrial Democracies

4 credits · Graduate

Theories and evidence concerning political conflict in advanced industrial societies. The empirical focus is on mass politics: the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of ordinary citizens rather than of activists or elites. The principal theoretical focus is on how changes in social structure, culture, and political institutions influence patterns of political cleavages. The analysis is largely comparative, with attention to the issue of American exceptionalism versus cultural and policy convergence.