scholarly journals The Political Contingency of Public Opinion, or What Shall We Make of the Declining Faith of Middle-Class African Americans?

1994 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hochschild
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
The Political

scholarly journals Astrologers at War: Manuel Galhano Lourosa and the Political Restoration of Portugal, 1640–1668

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (02) ◽  
pp. 63-85
Author(s):  
Carlos Ziller Camenietzki ◽  
Luís Miguel Carolino
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Social Prestige ◽  
Portuguese Society ◽  
The Revolution

This paper analyses the involvement of the astrologer Manuel Galhano Lourosa in the restoration of political independence of Portugal from Spain between 1640 and 1668. Lourosa was the most successful astrologer and almanac maker in seventeenth-century Portugal. He published astrological almanacs for several decades, wrote an astrological and astronomical treatise on comets, and addressed astrological writings to Portuguese society urging support for the new political order that issued from the revolution of 1640. Some of these writings were consistent with the feelings of the urban professional and mercantile classes. We argue that, by publishing and using his social prestige in favour of the Restoration cause, Lourosa used the sphere of public opinion to act politically along with the interests of the urban middle class.

scholarly journals Masculinity on Stage

Aspasia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-30
Author(s):  
Dimitra Vassiliadou
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Instability ◽  
The Political ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
National Integration ◽  
Public Figure ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Male Honor

Based on some forty duels that took place in Athens between 1870 and 1918, this article examines the different connotations middle-class dueling assumed in the political culture of the period. Drawing on newspaper articles, monographs, domestic codes of honor, legal texts, and published memoirs of duelists, it reveals the diversified character of male honor as value and emotion. Approaching dueling both as symbol and practice, the article argues that this ritualistic battle was imported to Greece against a background of fin de siècle political instability and passionate calls for territorial expansion and national integration. The duel gradually became a powerful way of influencing public opinion and the field of honor evolved into a theatrical stage for masculinity, emanating a distinct glamor: the glamor of a public figure who was prepared to lay down his life for his principles, his party, the proclamations he endorsed, and his “name.”

Racial Identities and Political Standpoints

2020 ◽  
pp. 134-153
Author(s):  
Jan Doering
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Street Crime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
Racial Boundaries ◽  
Racial Identities ◽  
Black Residents

On an aggregate level, the fight against street crime in Rogers Park and Uptown benefited white residents at the expense of black and minority residents, who were mostly low-income and more likely to be displaced or confronted with aggressive policing. Nevertheless, alliances and battle lines in Rogers Park and Uptown crisscrossed racial boundaries. Some middle-class whites actively opposed gentrification, while some black residents supported tough-on-crime policing. This chapter describes in detail several extreme examples of how racial identities did or did not align with the political positions one might expect whites and African Americans to take. Furthermore, it sheds light on the fact that many racial battles played out within rather than between racial groups.

Has the Supreme Court Been More a Friend or Foe to African Americans?

Daedalus ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Klarman
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
American History ◽  
Social Climate ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Racial Issues ◽  
The Supreme Court

This essay challenges the conventional wisdom that regards the Supreme Court as a heroic defender of the rights of racial minorities against majority oppression. It argues that over the course of American history, the Court, more often than not, has been a regressive force on racial issues. Klarman draws three lessons from his survey of the Court's racial jurisprudence: (1) the composition of the Court influences whether its racial jurisprudence is progressive or regressive; (2) the composition of the Court is, in significant part, a reflection of national politics; and (3) the Court's constitutional interpretations regarding race – just as on any other issue – broadly reflect the political and social climate of the era and thus rarely deviate far from dominant public opinion.

Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian D. Liddy
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
And Control ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

The exercise of political power in late medieval English towns was predicated upon the representation, management, and control of public opinion. This chapter explains why public opinion mattered so much to town rulers; how they worked to shape opinion through communication; and the results. Official communication was instrumental in the politicization of urban citizens. The practices of official secrecy and public proclamation were not inherently contradictory, but conflict flowed from the political process. The secrecy surrounding the practices of civic government provoked ordinary citizens to demand more accountability from town rulers, while citizens, who were accustomed to hear news and information circulated by civic magistrates, were able to use what they knew to challenge authority.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Ignazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Present Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Democratic System

The Conclusion addresses the parties’ present condition in the European political systems. Indeed, at the dawn of the new century parties have become Leviathan with clay feet: powerful in the political arena thanks to control of state resources, but very weak in terms of legitimacy in the eyes of public opinion. Only by abandoning the citadelle in which they are entrenched, recasting societal linkages, relinquishing all their privileges, and dismissing their self-referential attitude might they recover the confidence of the electorate. Maintaining a state-centred status will only lead to a dead end, and this will also harm the democratic system itself. The collapse of parties’ legitimacy inevitably affects democratic institutions: the mounting populist and plebiscitary wave suggests how pervasive is the crisis and how dramatic the challenge.

Realignment and Beyond

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell J. Dalton
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
Societal Changes

Affluent democracies have experienced tremendous socio-economic changes since the mid- twentieth century, which has reshaped public opinion, party programs, and electoral choices. This chapter first summarizes the societal changes that have been a driving force behind the political changes described in this study. One pattern involves the longstanding economic issues of contemporary democracies, and shifting social positions on these issues. In addition, an evolving cultural cleavage and its ties to broader attitudes toward social change have altered citizen policy preferences. In most affluent democracies, the parties’ responses to these changing citizen demands have produced a realignment to represent both economic and cultural positions. The chapter concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for the working of electoral systems and the democratic process more broadly.

Public Opinion in Israel: The Sociodemographic Nexus

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamar Hermann
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Strategic Issues ◽  
National Consensus ◽  
Deep Disagreements ◽  
Political Right ◽  
The Impact

In Israel, as in many other countries, the impact of public opinion on national policymaking has increased dramatically over the last few decades. In fact, public opinion has practically developed into one of the prime political inputs in Israel. This chapter argues that this increased impact, which could have contributed to improving the Israeli democracy, is in fact often undermined by the increasing overlapping of the main cleavages within Israel: between the political Right and Left, between Jews and Arabs, and between religious and secular Israelis. This extreme overlapping has severely eroded the national consensus and accelerated the emergence of deep disagreements in public opinion over strategic issues, such as the nature of the state (Jewish? Democratic?), the main challenges facing the nation (including the best way of dealing with the protracted Israeli–Palestinian conflict), and the desired collective future.

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