How Policies Make Citizens : : Senior Political Activism and the American Welfare State / / Andrea Louise Campbell.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG and UP eBook Package 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Campbell, Andrea Louise,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2011]; ©2003
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Studies in American Politics: Historical, International, and Comparative Perspectives ; 126
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.) :; 39 line illus. 52 tables.

Some groups participate in politics more than others. Why? And does it matter for policy outcomes? In this richly detailed and fluidly written book, Andrea Campbell argues that democratic participation and public policy powerfully reinforce each other. Through a case study of senior citizens in the United States and their political activity around Social Security, she shows how highly participatory groups get their policy preferences fulfilled, and how public policy itself helps create political inequality. Using a wealth of unique survey and historical data, Campbell shows how the development of Social Security helped transform seniors from the most beleaguered to the most politically active age group. Thus empowered, seniors actively defend their programs from proposed threats, shaping policy outcomes. The participatory effects are strongest for low-income seniors, who are most dependent on Social Security. The program thus reduces political inequality within the senior population--a laudable effect--while increasing inequality between seniors and younger citizens. A brief look across policies shows that program effects are not always positive. Welfare recipients are even less participatory than their modest socioeconomic backgrounds would imply, because of the demeaning and disenfranchising process of proving eligibility. Campbell concludes that program design profoundly shapes the nature of democratic citizenship. And proposed policies--such as Social Security privatization--must be evaluated for both their economic and political effects, because the very quality of democratic government is influenced by the kinds of policies it chooses.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- LIST OF FIGURES -- LIST OF TABLES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- CHAPTER ONE. Introduction: The Reciprocal Participation-Policy Relationship -- CHAPTER TWO. Overview: Rising Senior Participation and the Growth of the American Welfare State -- CHAPTER THREE. A Model of Senior Citizen Political Participation -- CHAPTER FOUR. Senior Citizen Participation and Policy over Time -- CHAPTER FIVE. Policy Threat and Seniors' Distinctive Political Voice -- CHAPTER SIX. Congressional Responsiveness -- CHAPTER SEVEN. The Reciprocal Participation-Policy Relationship across Programs -- CHAPTER EIGHT. Participation, Policymaking, and the Political Implications of Program Design -- APPENDIX A. Supplementary Tables -- APPENDIX B. Two-Stage Social Security Participation Model -- APPENDIX C. Senior/Nonsenior Mobilization Ratios by Party, 1956-96 -- APPENDIX D. Multiple Interrupted Time-Series Analysis -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- INDEX -- Backmatter