Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-18T21:08:17.836Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Political Civility

Introduction to Political Civility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

J. Cherie Strachan
Affiliation:
Central Michigan University
Michael R. Wolf
Affiliation:
Indiana University – Purdue University, Fort Wayne

Extract

The articles in this symposium are peppered with numerous recent incidents of political incivility ranging from physical scuffles at town hall meetings to the now-infamous accusation shouted at president Barack Obama during a nationally televised address before a joint session of Congress. Name calling and ad hominem attacks that were once associated with talk radio and cable television pundits have made their way into the halls of governing institutions, which no longer serve as sacred spaces one-step removed from bare-knuckled politics. Indeed, divisive views have even made inroads into “safe” topics for discussion—the weather and sports. Forget the intensity of debate over climate change. Democrats were actually 10% more likely to claim that the 2012 winter season was warmer than were their Republicans counterparts (Newport 2012). Sports no longer offers a neutral conversation starter, as 27% of Republicans view Tim Tebow as their favorite quarterback compared to only 9% of Democrats (Public Policy Polling 2011). Vitriol, combined with legislative gridlock and the uproar of protestors—not only in Washington, DC, but also in state capitals and prominent cities across the country—has shifted our discipline's attention to the role of political civility in sustaining a healthy democracy.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altchuler, Glen C., and Blumin, Stuart M.. 2001. Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
APSA Committee on Parties. 1950. “A Report of the Committee on Political Parties.” American Political Science Review 44: 199.Google Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Levinson, Stephen E.. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Burnham, Walter Dean. 1970. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Campbell, Angus, Converse, Phillip E., Miller, Warren E., and Stokes, Donald E.. 1960. The American Voter. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Carmines, E., and Stimson, J.. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Converse, Phillip. E. 1976. The Dynamics of Party Support. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ellis, Joseph J. 2002. Founding Brothers. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Epstein, Leon D. 1986. Political Parties in the American Mold. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Geer, John G. 2006. In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guttman, A., and Thompson, D.. 2004. Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Herbst, Susan. 2010. Rude Democracy: Civility and Incivility in American Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert, Morehouse Mendez, Jeanette, and Osborn, Tracy. 2004. “Disagreement, Ambivalence, and Engagement: The Political Consequences of Heterogeneous Networks.” Political Psychology 25: 6595.Google Scholar
Iyengar, Shanto. 2011. Media Politics: A Citizen's Guide, 2nd ed. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Key, V. O. 1955. “A Theory of Critical Elections.” Journal of Politics 17 (1): 318.Google Scholar
Macedo, Stephen. 1999. Deliberative Politics: Essays on Democracy and Disagreement. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1980. Beyond Adversarial Democracy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Mutz, Diana. 2006. Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative versus Participatory Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Newport, Frank. 2012. “Republicans, Democrats Differ on Causes of Warmer Weather.” March 21. Retrieved March 27, 2012, from Gallup: http://www.gallup.com/poll/153365/Republicans-Democrats-Differ-Causes-Warmer-Weather.aspxGoogle Scholar
Nie, Norman H., Verba, Sydney, and Petrocik, John R.. 1976. The Changing American Voter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Noonan, Peggy. 2010. “The Heat Is On: We May Get Burned,” The Wall Street Journal, March 25. Accessed at: http://www.peggynoonan.com/article.php?article=516.Google Scholar
Public Policy Polling. 2011. “Packers Are the Real America's Team.” December 21. Retrieved March 27, 2012, from: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2011/12/packers-are-the-real-americas-team.htmlGoogle Scholar
Ranney, Austin. 1962. The Doctrine of Responsible Party Government, Its Origins and Present State. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1996. The Strategy of Rhetoric: Campaigning for the American Constitution. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Robertson, Andrew. 1995. The Language of Democracy: Political Rhetoric in the United States and Britain, 1790–1900. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. 1942. Party Government. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Google Scholar
Silbey, Joel H. 1999. The American Party Battle: 1828–1854. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Weisberger, Bernard A. 2000. America Afire, Jefferson, Adams, and the First Contested Election. New York: William Morrow and Company.Google Scholar