Why Americans Still Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want It That WayBeacon Press, 2000 M09 22 - 352 pages Americans take for granted that ours is the very model of a democracy. At the core of this belief is the assumption that the right to vote is firmly established. But in fact, the United States is the only major democratic nation in which the less well-off, the young, and minorities are substantially underrepresented in the electorate. Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward were key players in the long battle to reform voter registration laws that finally resulted in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (also known as the Motor Voter law). When Why Americans Don't Vote was first published in 1988, this battle was still raging, and their book was a fiery salvo. It demonstrated that the twentieth century had witnessed a concerted effort to restrict voting by immigrants and blacks through a combination of poll taxes, literacy tests, and unwieldy voter registration requirements. Why Americans Still Don't Vote brings the story up to the present. Analyzing the results of voter registration reform, and drawing compelling historical parallels, Piven and Cloward reveal why neither of the major parties has tried to appeal to the interests of the newly registered-and thus why Americans still don't vote. |
Contents
Party Competition | 8 |
The Demobilization of | 21 |
The Mobilization and Demobilization | 45 |
How Demobilization Was Accomplished | 72 |
The Decline of the New Deal Party System | 108 |
Experiment in Democracy | 137 |
Electoral Mobilization | 171 |
Barriers or Mobilization? | 184 |
The States as Laboratories of Democracy | 205 |
Federal Reform | 222 |
Remobilization? | 261 |
307 | |
Acknowledgments | 327 |
Other editions - View all
Why Americans Still Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want It That Way Frances Fox Piven No preview available - 2000 |
Why Americans Still Don't Vote: And Why Politicians Want It That Way Frances Fox Piven No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
agency registration American electorate American politics appeals ballot barriers bill Burnham campaign changes chapter Christian Right cities civil rights clientelist clientelist parties coalition conflict constituencies Deal Deal coalition decades decline Demo demobilization Democratic party disfranchising economic efforts elec election of 1896 electoral participation electoral politics elites farmers federal governors groups Hispanics Human SERVE industrial issues Kleppner labor leaders legislation levels machines ment million mobilization motor voter movements NAACP national Democratic nineteenth century nomic nonvoters North NVRA offices organizations party competition percent percentage points policies poll tax polls poor whites Populist presidential programs protest regis registration procedures Republican party Rock the Vote Rosenstone Schattschneider SERVE's social South southern strategy system of 1896 tion tional tration unions urban V. O. Key voter participation voter registration voter turnout voting rights Voting Rights Act welfare workers working-class voters York York City