American Rage: How Anger Shapes Our Politics - Hardcover

Webster, Steven W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1108491375 ISBN 13: 9781108491372

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2020

Synopsis

American Rage argues that anger is the central emotion governing contemporary US politics, with powerful, deleterious effects. Tracing the developments that have given rise to a culture of anger in the mass public, the book sheds new light on both public opinion and voting behavior. Steven W. Webster skillfully uses a combination of novel datasets, new measures of anger, and a series of experiments to show how anger causes citizens to lose trust in the national government and weaken in their commitment to democratic norms and values. Despite these negative consequences, political elites strategically seek to elicit anger among their supporters. Presenting compelling evidence, Webster ultimately concludes that elites engage in this behavior because voter anger leads to voter loyalty. When voters are angry, they are more likely to vote for their party's slate of candidates at multiple levels of the federal electoral system.

About this title

About the Author

Steven W. Webster is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. His research interests include voter behavior, public opinion, and American elections.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108491375
• ISBN 13: 9781108491372
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 250