Anthony Downs Culture War Summary

2498 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on comparing and contrasting democratic and republican party

Anthony Downs is arguably one of the most well-known economist in the country, due to his innovative findings in his work An economic theory to democracy. In 1956, Downs presented his doctoral dissertation which gave an economic stance on voting in different political systems. This was accomplished by downs using economic theories to explain and give future understanding to the idea of voting in America’s two party democracy and other country’s multi-party electoral system. Downs findings were so innovative a new movement was further founded based on his findings in this book called the public choice model movement.
Within in this book Downs presents a rational economic calculus of voting that gives a varied outlook voting and turnout in …show more content…

The Myth of a Polarized America, political scientist Morris P. Fiorina explored the truth behind the myth that America is so divided and polarized when it comes to political issues. Polarization is the disagreement of political attitudes towards ideological extremes. In the book there are many theories and reasons offered for this effect on political ideologies. Fiorina's gave a compelling theory called the, “sorting" theory of voter behavior. It explains simply the potential cause of believed variation among American voters: it states that voters dislike both parties equally. Moreover, since the extensive disappointment of the Nixon Watergate scandal, and other political catastrophes the American people do not trust either party with boundless political power. Consequently, in elections most voters face only two rather unpopular choices, their votes ultimately are forced to go to either political party since neither one truly matches their values.
Fiorina states that both red conservative and blue democratic states are basically centralist, one may be a little more conservative than the other. However, people mostly see themselves in the center. The book also affirms that there are only a hand full of issues that Americans are truly perceived to be divided on. However, in most cases the opposing sides are defending completely different and unrelated viewpoints from the opposition. Fiorina offered some of these reasons in order to attempt to debunk the belief that America is such a polarized

Show More
Related

  • The Myth Of A Polarized America Chapter 1 Summary

    2206 Words  | 5 Pages

    The book Culture Wars? The Myth of a Polarized America by Morris P. Fiorina, Samuel J. Abrams, and Jeremy C. Pope is a persuasive text regarding America and its division on political topics.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Culture Wars: The Myth Of A Polarized America

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    Increasingly over the past two decades and in part thanks to the publication of James Davison Hunter’s book, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, the idea of a culture war in American politics has been gaining attention. While the tension between conservatives and liberals is palpable, it’s intensity has proven hard to measure. However, it doesn’t seem that many Americans are polarized on the topic of polarization as most would agree that the culture war is real (Fiorina, 2005). This thinking is what prompted Morris Fiorina to write the book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. In it, Fiorina outlines an argument against the idea of a culture war by looking at party affiliation by states, how public opinion on hot button issues changed over time and various explanations for why Americans are so hung up on the topic of polarization. While Fiorina makes a good argument, the evidence supporting the culture war is too powerful to explain away.

    Read More

  • The Rise Of Party Polarization In James Q. Wilson's How Divided Are We?

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Party polarization is the idea that a party’s individual stance on a given issue or person is more likely to be liberal or conservative. Typically the rise of political uniformity has been more noticeable among people who are the most politically active, but as of late, the vast majority of the American public is spilt down the middle. The broad gap between liberals and conservatives is growing rapidly through the years. Which brings on questions of why there is a cultural division? While it is agreed by most political scientists that the media, elected officials, and interest groups are polarized on given issues, in James Q. Wilson’s article How Divided Are We? he discusses the factors that contribute to the division not only to those major

    Read More

  • Daniel Elazar, Bogus or Brilliant: A Study of Political Culture Across the American States

    6107 Words  | 13 Pages

    American states each have individual political cultures which are important to our understanding of their political environments, behavior, and responses to particular issues. While voters probably do not consciously think about political culture and conform to that culture on election day, they seem to form cohesive clusters in different areas of the state, creating similar group political ideologies. Because of these similarities, it is possible to measure the dominant political culture within states or areas of a state, gaining insight into the mind-set of state residents. Whatever the state culture, whether liberal or conservative, participatory or exclusive, political culture identifies dominant, state-wide trends. The question remains whether there is an accurate way to measure this political culture phenomenon in the United States.

    Read More

  • External Factors In Congress

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Sinclair’s analysis, voters, political activists, and politicians all play significant roles in creating and enforcing the ideological gap between the two major parties in Congress. This trend of polarization is rooted in the electorate

    Read More

  • Election of 1828

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Americans have become so engrossed with the rhetoric of political parties that many are unable have real discussions about “freedom, fairness, equality, opportunity, security, accountability.” (Lakoff p.177) The election of 1828 gave birth to the “professional politician” it demonstrated how “ambivalence” on issues, how image and the right language or narrative can influence voters. Partisanship did increase competition and empower voters to a greater degree, but it has also divided Americans and obstructed communication. As one historian declared the “old hickory” killed the ideal of nonpartisan leadership. (Parsons p.184) For better or for worse American politics were forever be changed in 1828.

    Read More

  • Political Polarization in the United State

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States of America has engaged in the battle known as political polarization since before its foundation in 1776. From the uprising against the powerful British nation to the political issues of today, Americans continue to debate about proper ideology and attempt to choose a side that closely aligns with their personal beliefs. From decade to decade, Americans struggle to determine a proper course of action regarding the country as a whole and will often become divided on important issues. Conflicts between supporters of slavery and abolitionists, between agriculturalists and industrialists, and between industrial workers and capitalists have fueled the divide. At the Congressional level there tends to be a more prevalent display of polarization and is often the blame of Congress’ inefficiency. James Madison intentionally designed Congress to be inefficient by instating a bicameral legislation. Ambition would counter ambition and prevent majority tyranny. George Washington advised against political parties that would contribute to polarization and misrepresentation in his Farewell Address of 1796. Washington warns, “One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.” Today, the struggle to increase power between political parties results in techniques to gain even the smallest marginal gains. To truly understand political polarization, we must examine data collected through a variety of means, the effects of rapidly changing technology, and observe what techniques are used to create such a polarized political system.

    Read More

  • The Democrats and The Republicans: On The Issues

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the United States we are divided by the left and right side on the political spectrum; even further divided into political parties such as Republicans, on the right, and Democrats, on the left side. These two political parties show philosophical differences through their viewpoints on major topics such as the economy, separation of church and state, abortion, and gun control.

    Read More

  • Linkage Institutions In Society

    1487 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cleavages existing in society are divisions such as religion, gender, race, and most importantly socioeconomic status. Political parties form around these divisions in society and in America’s society; money has proven to be the major factor. The major parties in American politics are Democrat and Republican, and the political preference of each member of these parties’ deals greatly with the amount of income they receive.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The Electoral College

    2215 Words  | 5 Pages

    As the United States of America gets older, so does the presidential election voting system. The argument to change this method of voting has been becoming more and more popular as the years go on. It has been said that the Framers of the Constitution came up with this method because of the bad transportation, communication, and they feared the public’s intelligence was not suitable for choosing the President of the United States. Others say that the Framers made this method because they feared that the public did not receive sufficient information about candidates outside of their state to make such a decision based on direct popular vote. My research on this controversial issue of politics will look into the factors into why the Electoral College exists and if it is possibly outdated for today’s society. It will look into the pros and cons of this voting system, and it will explore the alternative methods of voting such as the Direct Popular vote. Many scholarly authors have gathered research to prove that this voting system is outdated and it does not accurately represent the national popular will. Many U.S. citizens value their vote because they only get one to cast towards the candidate of their choice in the presidential election. Based on the Electoral College system their vote may possibly not be represented. Because of today’s society in the U.S. the Electoral College should be abolished because it is not necessary to use a middle-man to choose our president for us. It is a vote by the people, all of us having one voice, one vote.

    Read More

  • The Political Division of the United States

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is much debate in the United States regarding whether there is polarization between our two dominant political parties. Presidential election results have shown that there is a division between the states, a battle between the Democratic blue states and the Republican red states. What is striking is that the “colors” of these states do not change. Red stays red, and blue stays blue. Chapter 11 of Fault Lines gives differing views of polarization.

    Read More

  • The First Political Parties

    2273 Words  | 5 Pages

    Today, political parties can be seen throughout everyday life, prevalent in various activities such as watching television, or seeing signs beside the road while driving. These everyday occurrences make the knowledge of political parties commonly known, especially as the two opposing political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. Republican and Democrats have existed for numerous years, predominantly due to pure tradition, and the comfort of the ideas each party presents. For years, the existence of two political parties has dominated the elections of the president, and lower offices such as mayor, or the House of Representatives. Fundamentally, this tradition continues from the very emergence of political parties during the election of 1796, principally between Federalist John Adams and Anti-federalist Thomas Jefferson. Prior to this election people unanimously conformed to the ideas of one man, George Washington, and therefore did not require the need for political parties.1 However, following his presidency the public was divided with opposing opinions, each arguing the best methods to regulate the country. Ultimately, the emergence of different opinions regarding the future of the United States involving the economy, foreign relations, ‘the masses,’ and the interpretation of the Constitution, led to the two political parties of the 1790s and the critical election of 1800.

    Read More

  • Anthony Down's Voting Model Accuracy

    2077 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the second half of the past century the notion that, political science should be treated as a science became extremely popular among academics specially in the United States. One of the most prominent exposers of this school of thought was Anthony Downs, who developed a theorem to explain in a rather economic sense, how and why voters behave in a certain way when it comes to voting. Downs did not only applied his theory to the way voters behave, he also used it to explain the way political parties align themselves when it comes to elections in a two and a multiparty system nevertheless this essay will analyze Downs’ claims about a two party system only. This essay argues that the Downs’ model has proven to be accurate in many cases throughout history, nevertheless it makes a series of assumptions about voters and parties that can not be considered realistic neither in 1957, when he published his paper An Economic Theory of Political Action in Democracy in 1957 nor in 2013. This essay also acknowledges that fact that this theory might help to explain how parties behave but it is by no means the only explanation. Furthermore this essay will prove that it is a multiplicity of factors rather than an economic theory what can help us understand why parties behave the way they do. In order to support the argument previously stated this essay will state and critically analyze a number of Downs assumptions, then his theory will be outlined. Then it will carefully consider how effective it has been at predicting the way in which parties align themselves by examining the behavior of political parties during general elections in different countries.

    Read More

  • The Need for Empowerment

    1638 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lau, Richard R., and David Redlawsk. How Voters Decide. New York, N.Y.: Cambridge university Press, 2006. Print.

    Read More

  • Theories Of Social Choice Theory

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social Choice Theory is the study of collective decision making processes, most commonly used to analyze voting systems. It has its roots in the 18th century with the mathematical contributions to social sciences of Nicolas de Condorcet and Jean-Charles de Borda. Through the work of a few notable scholars (Sen, 1984; Arrow, 1951; Rawls, 1999), the theory became known as a tool to understand individual utility and one’s ability to function within the same capability set as any other member of society.

    Read More

More about Anthony Downs Culture War Summary

Open Document