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

by Arthur Lupia

Overview

Research polls, media interviews, and everyday conversations reveal an unsettling truth: citizens, while well-meaning and even passionate about current affairs, appear to know very little about politics. Hundreds of surveys document vast numbers of citizens answering even basic questions about government incorrectly. Given this unfortunate state of affairs, it is not surprising that more knowledgeable people often deride the public for its ignorance. Some experts even think that less informed citizens should stay out of politics altogether.

As Arthur Lupia shows in Uninformed, this is not constructive. At root, critics of public ignorance fundamentally misunderstand the problem. Many experts believe that simply providing people with more facts will make them more competent voters. However, these experts fail to understand how most people learn, and hence don't really know what types of information are even relevant to voters. Feeding them information they don't find relevant does not address the problem. In other words, before educating the public, we need to educate the educators.

Lupia offers not just a critique, though; he also has solutions. Drawing from a variety of areas of research on topics like attention span and political psychology, he shows how we can actually increase issue competence among voters in areas ranging from gun regulation to climate change. To attack the problem, he develops an arsenal of techniques to effectively convey to people information they actually care about.

Citizens sometimes lack the knowledge that they need to make competent political choices, and it is undeniable that greater knowledge can improve decision making. But we need to understand that voters either don't care about or pay attention to much of the information that experts think is important. Uninformed provides the keys to improving political knowledge and civic competence: understanding what information is important to and knowing how to best convey it to them.

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

Arthur Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science at 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 also Chair of the American Political Science Association Task Force on Improving Public Engagement.

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

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