Description
Book SynopsisIn recent decades, economically disadvantaged Americans have become more residentially segregated from other communities: they are increasingly likely to live in high-poverty neighborhoods that are spatially isolated with few civic resources. Low-income citizens are also less likely to be politically engaged, a trend that is most glaring in terms of voter turnout. Examining neighborhoods in Atlanta, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Rochester, Amy Widestrom challenges the assumption that the class gap in political participation is largely the result of individual choices and dispositions. Displacing Democracy demonstrates that neighborhoods segregated along economic lines create conditions that encourage high levels of political activity, including political and civic mobilization and voting, among wealthier citizens while discouraging and impeding the poor from similar forms of civic engagement.
Drawing on quantitative research, case studies, and interviews, Widestrom shows t
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"Displacing Democracy sets out to challenge and complicate a story that is often understood as an easy equation between individual resources and individual political behavior: most rich people vote, most poor people don't. Amy Widestrom's fine book recasts this as a challenge of political engagement under conditions of stark economic segregation. What matters, in the end, is where you live-and the ways in which civic infrastructure and civic resources can sustain (or sap) democratic participation." * Colin Gordon, University of Iowa *
Table of Contents
Introduction. A Theory of Economic Segregation and Civic Engagement
Chapter 1. Understanding Civic Engagement in Context: Methodology and the Logic of Case Study Selection
Chapter 2. Public Policy and Civic Environments in Urban America
Chapter 3. Economic Segregation and the Mobilizing Capacity of Voluntary Associations
Chapter 4. Economic Segregation, Political Parties, and Political Mobilization
Conclusion. The Dynamics and Implications of Economic Segregation, Civic Engagement, and Public Policy
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Notes
Index
Acknowledgments
