The Social Roots of American Politics

Using comprehensive data, this work is an original analysis that anchors U.S. policy-making into social cleavages and party allegiances across many decades. * David Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Yale University *
What Divides Us? Americans disagree on public policy, develop partisan attachments, and fracture by race, religion, class, region, and gender. But it is not a simple story of steady polarization or one identity trumping all of the others. The Social Roots of American Politics paints the big picture of American social and political change since 1950, fitting all of our differences together in a sweeping history and data-packed analysis. In the process, it guides readers toward the most important trends and the enduring divisions that structure American political competition. * Matt Grossman, Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University *
Shafer and Wagner provide a high-altitude look at electoral change in the United States over the past three-quarters of a century. While some authors will quibble with details, the book provides a welcome complement to more focused studies of particular aspects of the broader picture. Additionally, Shafer's and Wagner's analytical approach reminds us that understanding largescale political change over long time periods requires attention to sociology as well as politics. * Morris P. Fiorina, Stanford University *