Hooked: How Politics Captures People's Interest

by Markus Prior

Overview

Political interest is the strongest predictor of 'good citizenship', yet hardly anything is known about it. For the first time in over three decades, here is a study explaining what political interest is, where it comes from, and why it matters. Providing the most thorough description available of political interest in four Western democracies this study analyzes large household panel data sets rarely used in political science to explain how interest develops in people's lives. In an accessible manner, the book's analytical approach pushes applied social scientists to consider how panel data can be used to better understand political behavior. It does so in a way that doesn't gloss over complexities, and explains them in straightforward language. Advanced statistical methods are presented informally, accompanied by graphical illustrations that require no prior knowledge to understand the methods used.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108430746
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/13/2018
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	412
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Markus Prior is Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University. He is author of Post-Broadcast Democracy (Cambridge, 2007), which won the 2009 Goldsmith Book Prize and the 2010 Doris Graber Award for the 'best book on political communication in the last 10 years'. Prior's work has appeared in multiple journals including American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics.

Table of Contents

1. Why political interest matters and how to understand its origins; Part I. Describing Political Interest: 2. The psychology of political interest 3. Measuring political interest; 4. The impact of elections; 5. Sixty years of political interest; Part II. The Development of Political Interest: 6. Political interest over the life course: the population average; 7. Stability and variation in political interest; 8. Differences in age trajectories; Part III. Explaining Change in Political Interest: 9. The big benefits of panel data analysis; 10. Education; 11. Parents; 12. Money, health, and happiness; 13. Encounters with politics; 14. The impact of political attitudes and identities; 15. Conclusion; Data appendix; Index.