Uninformed: Why People Seem to Know So Little about Politics and What We Can Do about It

by Arthur Lupia

Overview

Citizens appear to know very little about politics and government. Hundreds of surveys document millions of citizens answering thousands of political questions incorrectly. Given this state of affairs, it is not surprising that more knowledgeable people often deride the public for its ignorance and encourage them to stay out of politics.

As the eminent political scientist Arthur Lupia shows in this capstone work, there are more constructive responses. As he explains, expert critics of public ignorance fundamentally misunderstand the problem, and as a consequence propose unhelpful solutions to a genuinely serious problem. For instance, idea that simply providing people with more facts will make them more competent voters is erroneous. That is because most experts fail to understand how most people learn, and do not know how to determine what types of information are relevant to voters. Lupia has worked for years with scientists and educators in all arenas to figure out how to increase issue competence among voters in areas like climate change. He draws from these efforts and the latest research on educational efficacy to develop a battery of techniques that effectively convey to people information that they actually care. If we accept the idea that citizens sometimes lack the knowledge that they need to make competent political choices, that greater knowledge can improve decision making, and that experts and advocates are often mistaken about how people think and learn, then a prescription for improving political knowledge and civic competence emerges: we need to educate the educators. Lupia's ultimate purpose, therefore, extends beyond politics alone: to help educators of all kinds convey information that is of more value to more people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190263720
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Hal R Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science, the University of Michigan. He serves on advisory boards for several science communication endeavors including the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Academy of Science, and Climate Central. He is chair of the APSA Task Force on Improving Public Engagement. He has held a range of leadership positions in science including Principal Investigator of the American National Election Studies, Chair of the Political Economic and Social Sciences at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, President of the Midwest Political Science Association, founder and Principal Investigator of TESS (Time-Shared Experiments in the Social Sciences), and Treasurer of the American Political Science Association. He has given over 350 professional presentations in 12 countries and conducted hundreds o f media interviews with outlets around the world.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication
Acknowledgements

1. From Infinite Ignorance to Knowledge that Matters
2. Who Are the Educators and How Can We Help Them?


PART I: THE VALUE OF INFORMATION
3. Three Definitions
4. The Silver Bullet
5. The Logic of Competence
6. Lost in the Woods
7. Attracting Attention
8. Building Source Credibility
9. The Politics of Competence
10. Value Diversity and How to Manage It
11. Complexity and Framing
12. Political Roles: Who Needs to Know?
13. Costs and Benefits


PART II. HOW TO IMPROVE "POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE"
14. What We Know
15. Reading the Questions, Understanding the Answers
16. Political Knowledge Scales: Something Doesn't Add Up
17. Assessing Information Assessments
18. All in Good Measure


19. The Silver Lining


References

Editorial Reviews

"Lupia has spent his professional lifetime mastering the art,the science, in his hands, of education in the broadest sense. He has much to offer and does so supremely. Uninformed is not only an excellent guide to educating people about politics, but also an instruction manual in pedagogy more broadly." —John Aldrich, Pfizer-Pratt University Professor of Political Science, Duke University

"Lupia presents solutions to improve the interaction and communication strategies of those who would seek to improve citizens' political knowledge..." —Science

"Why don't more voters come forward to support-or reject-new laws and regulations that would directly affect them? In his new book, Uninformed: Why People Seem to Know So Little About Politics and What We Can Do About It, political scientist Arthur Lupia argues that it's a matter of education. And America's key influencers, he writes, should address this-by making things personal. Rather than focusing on how an environmental regulation might slightly change the temperature on a polar ice cap, for example, Lupia contends that journalists, teachers and advocates should explain how it will save a local elementary school from ending up underwater. Once voters are hooked on a big-picture concept, it's easier to get them engaged with the details of a law, rule or regulation-and take informed action to help it pass, fail or evolve." —Time Magazine

"In Uninformed, Lupia provides sightlines for educators to ... add new voices of reason, inflections of passion, and perhaps, murmurs of compromise to our political discourse."
—Science

From the Publisher