The New Town Hall : Why We Engage Personally with Politicians / Gina M. Masullo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Masullo, Gina M., author.

Series:

Politics Gets Personal.

Politics Gets Personal

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Constituent power--United States.

Constituent power.

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Communication in politics--United States.

Communication in politics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 173 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

New York : Bloomsbury Publishing (US), 2023.

Place of Publication:

Westport, CT : Praeger, 2020.

System Details:

text file HTML

Summary:

Drawing on in-depth interviews with a wide variety of people, this book answers two questions: How and why do we personally engage with elected officials online and offline? What influence does this personal political engagement have on our democracy? Never before has it been so easy for Americans to make their personal views known to their elected officials. Citizens can tweet their opinions to their political representatives or respond to a Facebook post on politicians' pages to convey their approval or dislike for policies. They can engage politically through virtual town halls or show up in person at a protest easily organized through digital platforms. But this mediated relationship also makes it easy for politicians to push back against the opinions of their constituents by deriding their views or even blocking them online. The New Town Hall gives readers a firsthand look at personal political experiences through vivid stories from a variety of Americans. Researcher and former journalist Gina Masullo documents how Americans feel when they are blocked on social media and demonstrates how political talk with elected officials-both online and offline-leads to more involved types of political participation, such as protests or campaigning for political candidates. She contextualizes these personal political experiences with an eye toward understanding how these interactions influence the democratic process.

Contents:

Series Foreword Acknowledgments Part I Roots of Personal Political Engagement Chapter 1 Introduction: Why Personal Engagement with Politicians Matters Chapter 2 Why Americans Engage Personally with Politicians Chapter 3 Personal Political Engagement: What the Experts Say Part II The Personal Politics of Interacting with Elected Officials Chapter 4 Citizen Voices: Who Are These People? Chapter 5 In-Person Politics: Engaging Offline Chapter 6 Screaming into a Void: Engaging Online Chapter 7 #Blocked: When Engagement Fails Part III What This Means Chapter 8: Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here? Appendix: Interview Protocols Notes Bibliography Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9798400691300

9798216123002

9781440866906

1440866902

OCLC:

1390967865