The Fallacy of Democratic Elitism: Elite Competition and Commitment to Civil Liberties

Since the seminal studies of Stouffer and McClosky it has become accepted that political elites are markedly more committed to civil liberties and democratic values than is the public at large; so much so that political elites should be recognized, in McClosky's words, as ‘the major repositories of the public conscience and as carriers of the Creed’. The argument of this article is that previous analyses have erred by focusing on the contrast between elites taken as a whole and the mass public. The crucial contrast is not between elites and citizens, but rather between groups of elites that are competing one with another for political power.Drawing on large-scale surveys of two modern democracies, Canada and the United States, this article demonstrates that differences among elites in support for civil liberties eclipse, both in size and political significance, differences between elites and citizens. The fallacy of democratic elitism, as this study shows, is its indifference to which elites prevail in the electoral competition for power.

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Are Americans less likely to reply to emails from Black people relative to White people?

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.2110347118 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 118 (52) ◽

pp. e2110347118

Author(s):

Ray Block ◽

Charles Crabtree ◽

John B. Holbein ◽

J. Quin Monson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Large Scale ◽

Black People ◽

Racial Bias ◽

The United States ◽

Simple Task ◽

The Public ◽

Medical Sector ◽

Large Scale Field ◽

Ethnic Subgroups

In this article, we present the results from a large-scale field experiment designed to measure racial discrimination among the American public. We conducted an audit study on the general public—sending correspondence to 250,000 citizens randomly drawn from public voter registration lists. Our within-subjects experimental design tested the public’s responsiveness to electronically delivered requests to volunteer their time to help with completing a simple task—taking a survey. We randomized whether the request came from either an ostensibly Black or an ostensibly White sender. We provide evidence that in electronic interactions, on average, the public is less likely to respond to emails from people they believe to be Black (rather than White). Our results give us a snapshot of a subtle form of racial bias that is systemic in the United States. What we term everyday or “paper cut” discrimination is exhibited by all racial/ethnic subgroups—outside of Black people themselves—and is present in all geographic regions in the United States. We benchmark paper cut discrimination among the public to estimates of discrimination among various groups of social elites. We show that discrimination among the public occurs more frequently than discrimination observed among elected officials and discrimination in higher education and the medical sector but simultaneously, less frequently than discrimination in housing and employment contexts. Our results provide a window into the discrimination that Black people in the United States face in day-to-day interactions with their fellow citizens.

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Why Politicians Are More Tolerant: Selective Recruitment and Socialization Among Political Elites in Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123400006566 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 51-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

John L. Sullivan ◽

Pat Walsh ◽

Michal Shamir ◽

David G. Barnum ◽

James L. Gibson

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

New Zealand ◽

Personal Characteristics ◽

The United States ◽

Personality Characteristics ◽

Political Elites ◽

Political Tolerance ◽

Individual Level ◽

The Public ◽

Members Of Parliament

In this article, we present data showing that national legislators are more tolerant than the public in Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. Two explanations for this phenomenon are presented and assessed. The first is the selective recruitment of Members of Parliament, Knesset and Congress from among those in the electorate whose demographic, ideological and personality characteristics predispose them to be tolerant. Although this process does operate in all four countries, it is insufficient to explain all of the differences in tolerance between elites and the public in at least three countries. The second explanation relies on a process of explicitly political socialization, leading to differences in tolerance between elites and their public that transcend individual-level, personal characteristics. Relying on our analysis of political tolerance among legislators in the four countries, we suggest how this process of political socialization may be operating.

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The Effect of Governmental Health Measures on Public Behaviour During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak

International Journal of Health Policy and Management ◽

10.34172/ijhpm.2021.131 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Guoyan Wang ◽

Li Li ◽

Lingfei Wang ◽

Zhi Xu

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Local Governments ◽

Large Scale ◽

New York State ◽

The United States ◽

Average Score ◽

Phase Rule ◽

The Public ◽

Health Measures ◽

Epidemic Area

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in radical changes in many aspects of life. To deal with this, each country has implemented continuous health measures from the beginning of the outbreak. Discovering how governmental actions impacted public behaviour during the outbreak stage is the purpose of this study. Methods: This study uses a hybrid large-scale data visualisation method to analyse public behaviour (epidemic concerns, self-protection, and mobility trends), using the data provided by multiple authorities. Meanwhile, a content analysis method is used to qualitatively code the health measures of three countries with severe early epidemic outbreaks from different continents, namely China, Italy, and the United States. Eight dimensions are coded to rate the mobility restrictions implemented in the above countries. Results: (1) Governmental measures did not immediately persuade the public to change their behaviours during the COVID-19 epidemic. Instead, the public behaviour proceeded in a three-phase rule, which is typically witnessed in an epidemic outbreak, namely the wait-and-see phase, the surge phase and the slow-release phase. (2) The strictness of the mobility restrictions of the three countries can be ranked as follows: Hubei Province in China (with an average score of 8.5 out of 10), Lombardy in Italy (7.125), and New York State in the United States (5.375). Strict mobility restrictions are more likely to cause a surge of population outflow from the epidemic area in the short term, whereas the effect of mobility restrictions is positively related to the stringency of policies in the long term. Conclusion: The public showed generally lawful behaviour during regional epidemic outbreaks and blockades. Meanwhile public behaviour was deeply affected by the actions of local governments, rather than the global pandemic situation. The contextual differences between the various countries are important factors that influence the effects of the different governments’ health measures.

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Preparing for Agroterror: How is the Texas Animal Health Commission Implementing Federal Food Security Regulations?

Journal of Biosecurity Biosafety and Biodefense Law ◽

10.1515/jbbbl-2015-0005 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jordan Hunter

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Food Supply ◽

Large Scale ◽

Animal Health ◽

Health And Safety ◽

The United States ◽

United States Government ◽

Agricultural Industry ◽

The Public ◽

Department Of Health

AbstractAgroterrorism is a subform of bioterrorism with the potential to have a crippling impact on both the agricultural industry and the food supply of a nation. A calculated attack using a miniscule amount of pathogenic or disease causing substances on the livestock or crops in one rural community can spread to animals and metropolitan regions much farther away long before any response from state or federal veterinary or agricultural organizations. Although there have been no large-scale agroterrorism attacks in the United States, there have been historical precedents for agricultural biological warfare and recent examples of unintentional or accidental spread of pathogens in the food supply that have threatened the health and safety of the public. Along with an ongoing push for preparedness to prevent a biological attack on the U.S. agricultural industry, there is a great deal of uncertainty and conflict among landowners, farmers, analysts, and politicians about what methods should be implemented to safeguard the public. In response to this possible threat, the United States government has implemented legislation that it considers preemptive in its ability to safeguard the food supply and manage the public health and/or biological crime response in a widespread agroterrorist attack scenario. However, this requires cooperation on both the state and federal levels, and of several agencies including the department of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Health and Human Services. This paper examines the steps being taken by the USDA in fulfilling the orders of the federal government in response to the looming threat of agroterrorism and how the TAHC works cooperatively with federal agencies and the private agricultural industry to carry out these regulations.

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Reappraisals of the Academy Movement

History of Education Quarterly ◽

10.1111/j.1748-5959.2001.tb00085.x ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 216-224 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kim Tolley ◽

Nancy Beadie

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Nineteenth Century ◽

Large Scale ◽

The United States ◽

Public High Schools ◽

Colonial Era ◽

Educational Discourse ◽

The Public ◽

Historical Significance ◽

History Of

The presence of academies in the United States spans roughly three centuries. Originating in the colonial era, academies spread across the country by mid-nineteenth century. Such institutions generally served students between the ages of eight and twenty-five, providing a relatively advanced form of schooling that was legally incorporated to ensure financial support beyond that available through tuition alone. According to one contemporary source, by 1850 more than 6,100 incorporated academies existed in the United States, with enrollments nine times greater than those of the nation's colleges. Nineteenth-century supporters portrayed academies as exemplars of the nation's commitment to enlightenment and learning; opponents argued that they were harmful to the public interest. Those in favor of a large-scale system of public high schools dismissed academies as irrelevant and outmoded institutions. The culmination of this controversy is well known, because it is reiterated in every secondary text on the history of American education. As a widespread system of public higher schooling supplanted the academies in the twentieth century, private and independent schools dropped out of the mainstream of American educational discourse. The following essays seek to recover something of the long history of academies in the United States and to reconsider the historical significance of these institutions in society.

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Federalism in the United States

Political Science ◽

10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0024 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Troy Smith

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Political System ◽

The United States ◽

Political Organization ◽

Democratic Values ◽

Political Systems ◽

The Public ◽

Political Outcomes ◽

Political Integrity ◽

Good Policy

Federalism is one of America’s unique contributions to modern political systems. Generally, federalism refers to a political system that unites separate polities into an overarching political organization with protections to maintain the fundamental political integrity of each. This definition limits federalism to a specific governmental structure and emphasizes the state and sovereignty. Federalism is also understood as the institutionalization of relationships via a particular constitutional framework that facilitates autonomy, diversity, and equality among participants, in contrast to the subordinate relationships found in ordered, hierarchical, and centralized political structures and institutions. Federal structures commonly fragment authority and create overlapping jurisdictions to foster coordinative relationships. Federalism studies are interested in the causes and foundation of federal systems, what federal systems require to be self-reinforcing, how different units of government interact with each other and the public, and how federal institutions affect political outcomes, including fostering democratic values, diversity, and good policy.

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How Large Is the “Public Domain”? A Comparative Analysis of Ringer’s 1961 Copyright Renewal Study and HathiTrust CRMS Data

College & Research Libraries ◽

10.5860/crl.78.2.16582 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 78 (2) ◽

Author(s):

John P. Wilkin

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Comparative Analysis ◽

Large Scale ◽

The United States ◽

Public Domain ◽

Methodological Issues ◽

The Public ◽

Determination Process ◽

Review Management ◽

The U.S

The 1961 Copyright Office study on renewals, authored by Barbara Ringer, has cast an outsized influence on discussions of the U.S. 1923–1963 public domain. As more concrete data emerge from initiatives such as the large-scale determination process in the Copyright Review Management System (CRMS) project, questions are raised about the reliability or meaning of the Ringer data. A closer examination of both the Ringer study and CRMS data demonstrates fundamental misunderstandings and misrepresentations of the Ringer data, as well as possible methodological issues. Estimates of the size of the corpus of public domain books published in the United States from 1923 through 1963 have been inflated by problematic assumptions, and we should be able to correct mistaken conclusions with reasonable effort.

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Digital Transformations of the Public Arena

10.1017/9781009064484 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andreas Jungherr ◽

Ralph Schroeder

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Structural Changes ◽

Digital Technologies ◽

The United States ◽

Political Elites ◽

The Public ◽

Public Arena ◽

Digital Era ◽

Social Media Platforms ◽

New Framework

Digital technologies have changed the public arena, but there is little scholarly consensus about how they have done so. This Element lays out a new framework for the digitally mediated public arena by identifying structural changes and continuities with the pre-digital era. It examines three country cases – the United States, Germany, and China. In these countries and elsewhere, the emergence of new infrastructures such as search engines and social media platforms increasingly mediate and govern the visibility and reach of information, and thus reconfigure the transmission belt between citizens and political elites. This shift requires a rethinking of the workings and dysfunctions of the contemporary public arena and ways to improve it.

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