Jeff Stonecash - Diverging Parties: Social Change, Realignment, and Party Polarization

Diverging Parties
SOCIAL CHANGE, REALIGNMENT, AND PARTY POLARIZATION

Lawrence C. Dodd , Series Editor

Dramatic changes in political institutions and behavior over the past three decades have underscored the dynamic nature of American politics, confronting political scientists with a new and pressing intellectual agenda. The pioneering work of early postwar scholars, while laying a firm empirical foundation for contemporary scholarship, failed to consider how American politics might change or recognize the forces that would make fundamental change inevitable. In reassessing the static interpretations fostered by these classic studies, political scientists are now examining the underlying dynamics that generate transformational change.

Transforming American Politics brings together texts that address four closely related aspects of change. A first concern is documenting and explaining recent changes in American politicsin institutions, processes, behavior, and policymaking. A second is reinterpreting classic studies and theories to provide a more accurate perspective on postwar politics. The series looks at historical change to identify recurring patterns of political transformation within and across the distinctive eras of American politics. Last and perhaps most important, the series presents new theories and interpretations that explain the dynamic processes at work and thus clarify the direction of contemporary politics. All of the books focus on the central theme of transformationtransformation in both the conduct of American politics and in the way we study and understand its many aspects.

Diverging Parties, Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Mark Brewer, Mack Mariani

The Parties Respond, Fourth Edition, edited by L. Sandy Maisel

Votes, Money, and the Clinton Impeachment, Irwin Morris

The Congressional Experience, Second Edition, David E. Price

Class and Party in American Politics, Jeffrey M. Stonecash

Congress and the Decline of Public Trust, edited by Joseph Cooper

Public Opinion in America, Second Edition, James A. Stimson

Still Seeing Red, John Kenneth White

Masters of the House, edited by Roger H. Davidson, Susan Webb Hammond, and Raymond W. Smock

Governing Partners, Russell L. Hanson

Governance and the Changing American States, David M. Hedge

Revolving Gridlock, David W. Brady and Craig Volden

The Collapse of the Democratic Presidential Majority, David G. Lawrence

The Divided Democrats, William G. Mayer

Extraordinary Politics, Charles C. Euchner

The Irony of Reform, G. Calvin Mackenzie

Broken Contract, Stephen C. Craig

Young Versus Old, Susan A. MacManus

The New American Politics, Bryan D. Jones

Campaigns and Elections American Style, James A. Thurber and Candice J. Nelson

Bureaucratic Dynamics, . Dan Wood and Richard W. Waterman

The Dynamics of American Politics, Lawrence C. Dodd and Calvin Jillson

The Politics of Interests, Mark P. Petracca

Social Change, Realignment, and Party Polarization

Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Department of Political Science, Maxwell School, Syracuse University

Mark D. Brewer
Department of Government, Colby College

Mack D. Mariani
Department of Political Science, Maxwell School, Syracuse University

First published 2003 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge
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Library of Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stonecash, Jeffrey M.
Diverging parties: social change, realignment, and party polarization/by Jeffrey M. Stonecash, Mark D. Brewer, and Mack D. Mariani.
p. cm. (Transforming American politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-4028-4 (hardcover: alk. Paper) ISBN 0-8133-9843-6 (pbk: alk. Paper)
1. United States. Congress. House. 2. Polarization (Social sciences) 3. LegislatorsUnited States. 4. Political partiesUnited States. 5. Representative government and representationUnited States. 6. United StatesPolitics and Government1989-7. United StatesPolitics and government1945-1989. I. Brewer, Mark D. II. Mariani, Mack D. III. Title. IV. Series.
JK1319. S76 2002
328.73'0769dc21

2002003739
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-8133-9843-3 (pbk)

Conflict between Democrats and Republicans in the House of Representatives at the start of the twenty-first century was greater than it was thirty years before. Members of each party are more likely to join together and vote against the other party The parties increasingly adopt sharply differing policy positions. Democrats have more liberal voting records than they did thirty years ago, and Republicans have more conservative voting records. Party conflict is pervasive in the House.

In some regards this development is surprising, given current interpretations of American politicians and elections. In recent decades it has been common to argue that the attachment to parties in the electorate has declined and that elections should be seen as candidate-centered, or individualistic. The argument, in brief, has been as follows. Politicians face an electorate in which voters are more likely to be independents. Faced with voters inclined to split their tickets, candidates, and incumbents in particular, focus on using campaign and office resources to enhance their personal visibility. They call attention to their accomplishments rather than entangling their image with that of their party. In this view, members of Congress are seen as primarily concerned with their own fortunes and not those of the party. Yet for some reason members of Congress are voting more and more frequently with their party. That behavior seems odd if politicians want to create an independent image so their electoral fortunes are not tied to national swings of support for Democrats and Republicans.

This book offers an explanation of this increased party cohesion and conflict. The argument, building on the work of Roh de (1991), is that the emergence of greater party cohesion and conflict is largely a product of long-term secular realignment and social change. As a result of these changes, the diversity of constituencies within each party has decreased, while the difference between the electoral bases of the two parties has grown. Realignment has brought the Democrats an electoral base that is less affluent, urban, and non-white. Republicans have acquired an electoral base that is more affluent, suburban and rural, and primarily white. While this gradual realignment was occurring, social change unfolded in ways that accentuated existing differences or added new constituencies that became a further source of differences. Inequality after declining for several decades, began to increase in the 1970s, leading to constituencies with very real and significant differences about what role government should play in society. At the same time, immigration has resulted in a significant expansion of the "minority" population in the nation. These changes led to constituents with different needs and form the basis of more conflict between the parties.