Study guide 29Summary
One of the biggest problems in understanding American politics today
is deciding whom you should believe. In one sense, the mountain of
available information is an amazing asset. If you want to learn about
politics, there are many more sources and much more content available
now compared to generations ago. But if sources disagree, who should
you believe? One answer is to focus on sources that provide evidence
to back up their claims. It also helps to gather information from multiple
sources, especially if the sources have different ideological or other
biases. You should also be skeptical about simple explanations for
political outcomes. Complex outcomes are rarely explained by a single
factor.Suggested Reading
Bartels, Larry M. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the
New Gilded Age, 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 2016.
Dahl, Robert. A Preface to Democratic Theory, expanded ed. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2013.Dalton, Russell J. Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties
in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 6th ed. Los Angeles: CQ
Press, 2014.
Fiorina, Morris P., with Samuel J. Abrams and Jeremy C. Pope.
Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, 3rd ed. New York:
Pearson, Longman, 2010.
Gelman, Andrew, David Park, Boris Shor, Joseph Bafumi, and
Jeronimo Cortina. Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State:
Why Americans Vote the Way They Do. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2008.
Lupia, Arthur. Uninformed: Why People Know So Little about Politics and
What We Can Do about It. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Norris, Pippa. Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited. New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of
American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
Schattschneider, E. E. The Semisovereign People: A Realist’s View
of Democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and
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