Many Americans feel their financial well-being is under
threat by factors such as job and retirement insecurity, health care costs, and
spiraling college tuition. Yet few of us are motivated to become more
politically engaged on these issues. Our inaction carries serious consequences
for the shape of public policy.
Join us for a Chats in the Stacks book talk
with Cornell political scientist Adam Seth Levine. His new
book American Insecurity (Princeton University Press, 2015),
provides a new perspective on political behaviors that shape our financial
well-being. The key is that the very arguments intended to get people
involved—asking them to donate money or time—remind them of their economic
fears and constraints, leading to nonparticipation. When money is needed,
those personally affected do not become politically active. When time is
needed, participation is limited to those not personally affected or those who
are affected but outside of the labor force with time to spare. Levine’s key
discovery is that rhetoric about economic insecurity issues is actually
self-undermining.
Adam Levine is assistant professor in the Department
of Government at Cornell. His work has won numerous awards, including the 2011
E. E. Schattschneider Prize.
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