Book Details

More Than a Feeling : Personality, Polarization, and the Transformation of the US Congress

By ADAM J. RAMEY (Author), JONATHAN D. KLINGLER (Author), GARY E. HOLLIBAUGH JR. (Author)

Price : ~~$29.00~~  $23.20
ISBN : 9780226455983
Page : 256
Year of Publication : 2017    Edition : 1
Publisher : UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Subject : POLITICAL SCIENCE

mediamatics

Description :

Whatever you think about the widening divide between Democrats and Republicans, ideological differences do not explain why politicians from the same parties, who share the same goals and policy preferences, often argue fiercely about how best to attain them. This perplexing misalignment suggests that we are missing an important piece of the puzzle. Political scientists have increasingly drawn on the relationship between voters’ personalities and political orientation, but there has been little empirically grounded research looking at how legislators’ personalities influence their performance on Capitol Hill.

With More Than a Feeling, Adam J. Ramey, Jonathan D. Klingler, and Gary E. Hollibaugh, Jr. have developed an innovative framework incorporating what are known as the Big Five dimensions of personality—openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—to improve our understanding of political behavior among members of Congress. To determine how strongly individuals display these traits, the authors identified correlates across a wealth of data, including speeches, campaign contributions and expenditures, committee involvement, willingness to filibuster, and even Twitter feeds. They then show how we might expect to see the influence of these traits across all aspects of Congress members’ political behavior—from the type and quantity of legislation they sponsor and their style of communication to whether they decide to run again or seek a higher office. They also argue convincingly that the types of personalities that have come to dominate Capitol Hill in recent years may be contributing to a lot of the gridlock and frustration plaguing the American political system.

Adam J. Ramey is assistant professor of political science at New York University Abu Dhabi.Jonathan D. Klingler is a postdoctoral scholar in political science at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University.Gary E. Hollibaugh, Jr., is assistant professor of political science and a faculty affiliate at the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame.

Content :

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

PART I. Foundations

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Modeling Individual Differences: Translating Personality Traits into Mathematical Parameters

Chapter 3. Read My Lips: Measuring Personality Through Legislative Speech

PART II. Revisiting the Textbook Congress

Chapter 4. Securing Reelection: Deterrence and Disbursements

Chapter 5. Committee Assignments

Chapter 6. Proposing and Passing Legislation

Chapter 7. Cooperation, Obstruction, and Party Discipline: Shifting Norms in the US Congress