The private roots of public action : gender, equality, and political participation / Nancy Burns, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Sidney Verba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burns, Nancy, 1964-

Contributor:

Schlozman, Kay Lehman, 1946-

Verba, Sidney.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Women--Political activity--United States.

Women.

Sex role--United States.

Sex role.

Social institutions--United States.

Social institutions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (480 p. ) 14 line illustrations, 126 tables

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why, after several generations of suffrage and a revival of the women's movement in the late 1960's, do women continue to be less politically active than men? This book presents a study of this puzzle of unequal participation.

Why, after several generations of suffrage and a revival of the women's movement in the late 1960's, do women continue to be less politically active than men? Why are they less likely to seek public office or join political organizations? The Private Roots of Public Action is the most comprehensive study of this puzzle of unequal participation. The authors develop new methods to trace gender differences in political activity to the nonpolitical institutions of everyday life--the family, school, workplace, nonpolitical voluntary association, and church. Different experiences with these institutions produce differences in the resources, skills, and political orientations that facilitate participation--with a cumulative advantage for men. In addition, part of the solution to the puzzle of unequal participation lies in politics itself: where women hold visible public office, women citizens are more politically interested and active. The model that explains gender differences in participation is sufficiently general to apply to participatory disparities among other groups--among the young, the middle-aged, and the elderly or among Latinos, African-Americans and Anglo-Whites.

Contents:

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Citizenship and Unequal Participation 2. Studying Gender and Participation: A Brief Discourse on Method 3. Civic Activity: Political and Non-Political 4. The Political Worlds of Men and Women 5. The Legacy of Home and School 6. Domestic Tranquility: The Beliefs of Wives and Husbands 7. Domestic Hierarchy: The Household as a Social System 8. The Workplace Roots of Political Activity 9. The Realm of Voluntarism: Non-Political Associations and Religious Institutions 10. Gender, Institutions, and Political Participation 11. Gender, Race or Ethnicity, and Participation 12. Family Life and Political Life 13. What If Politics Weren't a Man's Game? 14. Conclusion: The Private Roots of Public Action Appendixes A. Numbers of Cases B. Ranges of Variables C. Supplementary Tables D. Explanation of Outcomes Analysis Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674029088

0674029089

OCLC:

923111652