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Overview
Not only is political disagreement widespread within the communication networks of ordinary citizens, but political diversity within these networks is entirely consistent with a theory of democratic politics built on the importance of individual interdependence. Contrary to commonly held theoretical expectations, the persistence of political diversity and disagreement does not imply that political interdependence is absent among citizens or that political influence is lacking. This book's analysis makes a number of contributions. The authors demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of political disagreement, even within the networks and contexts that comprise the micro-environments of democratic citizens. They show that communication and influence within dyads is autoregressive - that the consequences of dyadic interactions depend on the distribution of opinions within larger networks of communication. They argue that the autoregressive nature of political influence serves to sustain disagreement within patterns of social interaction, as it restores the broader political relevance of social communication and influence.Editorials
From the Publisher
"This book provides an interesting and informative account of Huckfeldt, Johnson, and Sprague's reserach on disagreement about U.S. presidential candidates. It is worth reading for the computer simulations results (and information on how to download the program!) alone. The book is an excellent example of how empirical, theoretical, and simluation approaches can work together to inform science." PsycCritiques"...a most welcome addition to our collective knowledge that is guaranteed to stimulate further discussion and disagreement in future years." - Public Opinion Quarterly, Lilach Nir, The Hebrew University
“This new study by Robert Huckfeldt, Paul Johnson and John Sprague addresses an important problem and does so with such innovative and well-executed theory and data that I have no doubt whatsoever that the book deserves such recognition; indeed, it is a must-read for all social scientists interested in how democracies can be sustained.” – Perspective on Politics, James L. Gibson, Washington University in St. Louis