The politics of social change : from the sixties to the present through the eyes of a generation / Larry M. Bartels, Katherine J. Cramer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bartels, Larry M., author.

Cramer, Katherine J., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political socialization--United States--Public opinion.

Political socialization.

Social change--United States--Public opinion.

Social change.

Civil rights movements--United States--Public opinion.

Civil rights movements.

United States--Politics and government--20th century--Public opinion.

United States.

United States--Politics and government--21st century--Public opinion.

Genre:

Longitudinal studies

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2026.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

text file PDF

Summary:

How did we get to this point in American politics? Drawing on insights from an unprecedented decades-long study of ordinary Americans' political lives, this book tells the story of how, why, and when our politics fractured. Few time periods have been as defined by waves of monumental social change as the United States during the 1960s. Even today, almost sixty years later, the era is often depicted as a triumph of social progress. Yet, as Larry M. Bartels and Katherine J. Cramer show in The Politics of Social Change, it was Americans' diverse reactions to the milestone events of the time--from the welcoming, to the fiercely resistant, to the largely oblivious--that planted the seeds of our current political turmoil. Their masterful analysis draws on a unique historical resource: the longest-running systematic tracking of individual Americans' political attitudes and behavior ever attempted. The study began in 1965 when researchers interviewed hundreds of high school students across the country and then periodically reinterviewed them over the next three decades. Bartels and Cramer supplement this historical record with in-depth interviews with dozens of the original students, painting a detailed picture of the generation's individual and collective political development. By tracing the responses of the Class of '65 to major events of their political lifetimes--including the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements, the Vietnam War, the shifting role of religion, escalating economic inequality, immigration, and the rise of Donald Trump--Bartels and Cramer shed new light on the evolution of public opinion and the unsteady progress of American democracy.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

1 Past and Present

2 Life Chances

3 A Stormy Passage

4 The Lessons of Vietnam

5 The Struggle(s) for Equality

6 The Political Impact of Economic Change

7 Work and Welfare

8 The Rise of the Religious Right

9 Civic Life and Political Engagement

10 Partisan Change

11 How Long Will It Take?

Acknowledgments

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed February 24, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Bartels, Larry M. The politics of social change.

ISBN:

9780226845241

0226845249

OCLC:

1573523290

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license