The Good Citizen

In 1996, less than half of all eligible voters bothered to vote. Fewer citizens each year follow government and public affairs regularly. Is popular sovereignty a failure? Not necessarily, argues Michael Schudson in this history of citizenship in America. This work sees American politics as evolving from a "politics of assent" in colonial times and the 18th century, in which voting generally reaffirmed the social hierarchy of the community; to a "politics of affiliation" in the 19th century, in which party loyalty was paramount for the good citizen. Progressive reforms around the turn of the century reduced the power of parties and increased the role of education, making way for the "informed citizen", which remains the ideal in American civil life at the end of the 20th century. A fourth model, "the rights-bearing citizen", supplements the "informed citizen" model and makes the courthouse as well as the voting booth a channel for citizenship. From the Civil Rights movement on, rights-consciousness has thrust politics into everyday life.
This message seeks to counter recent claims that American civic life has declined because participation in traditional civically oriented associations has declined.