Why Bother?: Rethinking Participation in Elections and Protests

Description

Why do vote-suppression efforts sometimes fail? Why does police repression of demonstrators sometimes turn localized protests into massive, national movements? How do politicians and activists manipulate people's emotions to get them involved? The authors of Why Bother? offer a new theory of why people take part in collective action in politics, and test it in the contexts of voting and protesting. They develop the idea that just as there are costs of participation in politics, there are also costs of abstention - intrinsic and psychological but no less real. That abstention can be psychically costly helps explain real-world patterns that are anomalies for existing theories, such as that sometimes increases in costs of participation are followed by more participation, not less. The book draws on a wealth of survey data, interviews, and experimental results from a range of countries, including the United States, Britain, Brazil, Sweden, and Turkey. 01.0_pp_i_iv_Frontmatter 02.0_pp_v_vi_Dedication 03.0_pp_vii_vii_Contents 04.0_pp_viii_viii_List_of_Figures 05.0_pp_ix_x_List_of_Tables 06.0_pp_xi_xiv_Preface_and_Acknowledgments 07.0_pp_1_12_Introduction_Rethinking_Political_Participation 08.0_pp_13_36_Theories_of_Voter_Participation_A_Review_and_a_New_Approach 09.0_pp_37_67_Testing_the_Costly_Abstention_Theory_of_Turnout 10.0_pp_68_82_Theories_of_Protest_Participation_A_Review_and_a_New_Approach 11.0_pp_83_102_Testing_the_Costly_Abstention_Theory_of_Protest_Participation 12.0_pp_103_127_The_Emotional_Origins_of_Collective_Action 13.0_pp_128_136_Conclusions_Criticisms_Extensions_and_Democratic_Theory 14.0_pp_137_149_Bibliography 15.0_pp_150_154_Index