Insufficient Representation (eBook)

The Disconnect between Congress and Its Citizens

Patrick Fisher (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020
200 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-1-4985-4533-4 (ISBN)

Infos

This book analyzes the demographic disconnect between the American public and congressional representation. The fact that Congress does not equally represent all citizens is critical to understanding the disillusionment most Americans hold toward the contemporary Congress.

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Not Enough Representation: The Disconnect between Congress and Its Citizens examines how representative the United States Congress is among different demographic groups and how representational issues affect Americans' perception of Congress, potentially threatening its legitimacy. The opening chapter analyzes political representation from the perspective of the nature of the relationship between voters and legislators, addressing why Congress is so demographically unrepresentative. The book will then focuses on outcomethe representativeness of the legislature in terms of its members' demographic backgrounds. Congress, simply put, is not demographically representative of the American public. There are significant gaps between Congress and the American public on the basis of race, gender, religion, wealth and generation. Since members of Congress do not adequately represent the diversity in their electorate, this suggests that Congress in turn does not make polices that advocate for the citizenry as a whole. The book first examines the nature of the relationship between citizens and legislators before analyzing demographic groups in the general population and comparing their preferences to how Congressional members of that demographic group legislate. In the process, the book ties representation to many of the hot-button issues that polarize both the American public and Congress. Congress is not descriptively representative of the U.S. population. Many groups of Americans have historically been, and continue to be, underrepresented in Congress. More than ever before, this underrepresentation is troublesome to a substantial number of Americansand problematic for American democracy.

Autor

Patrick Fisher is professor of political science at Seton Hall University.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: The Dilemma of Congressional RepresentationChapter 2: The Race DisconnectChapter 3: The Gender DisconnectChapter 4: The Religious DisconnectChapter 5: The Wealth DisconnectChapter 6: The Generation DisconnectChapter 7: The Causes and Consequences of Congressional Underrepresentation

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.7.2020
• Zusatzinfo: 54 Illustrations including: - 42 Black & White Illustrations; - 12 Tables.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Makrosoziologie
• Schlagworte: Congress • Congressional Representation • Congressional Underrepresentation • Democracy • Demographics • Diversity gaps • Elections • Gender • Gender Disconnect • Generation • Generation Disconnect • Race • Race Disconnect • Religion • Religious Disconnect • Representation • united states politics • Wealth • Wealth Disconnect
• ISBN-10: 1-4985-4533-5 / 1498545335
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4985-4533-4 / 9781498545334