Levine - American insecurity : why our economic fears lead to political inaction

AMERICAN INSECURITY

AMERICAN INSECURITY

Why Our Economic Fears Lead to Political Inaction

ADAM SETH LEVINE

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Copyright 2015 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, OX20 1TW

press.princeton.edu

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levine, Adam Seth, 1981

American insecurity : why our economic fears lead to political inaction / Adam Seth
Levine, Princeton University.

pages cm

Summary: Americans today face no shortage of threats to their financial well-being, such as job and retirement insecurity, health care costs, and spiraling college tuition. While one might expect that these concerns would motivate people to become more politically engaged on the issues, this often doesnt happen, and the resulting inaction carries consequences for political debates and public policy. Moving beyond previously studied barriers to political organization, American Insecurity sheds light on the publics inaction over economic insecurities by showing that the rhetoric surrounding these issues is actually self-undermining. By their nature, the very arguments intended to mobilize individualsasking them to devote money or time to politicsremind citizens of their economic fears and personal constraints, leading to undermobilization and nonparticipation. Adam Seth Levine explains why the set of people who become politically active on financial insecurity issues is therefore quite narrow. When money is needed, only those who care about the issues but are not personally affected become involved. When time is needed, participation is limited to those not personally affected or those who are personally affected but outside of the labor force with time to spare. The latter explains why it is relatively easy to mobilize retirees on topics that reflect personal financial concerns, such as Social Security and Medicare. In general, however, when political representation requires a large group to make their case, economic insecurity threats are uniquely disadvantaged. Scrutinizing the foundations of political behavior, American Insecurity offers a new perspective on collective participation Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-691-16296-6 (hardback : alk. paper)

1. United StatesEconomic conditions21st century. 2. United StatesEconomic policy21st century. 3. Finance, PersonalUnited States. 4. Political participationUnited States. I. Title.

HC106.83.L498 2015

330.9730905dc23

2014023570

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Sabon
Printed on acid-free paper.

Typeset by S R Nova Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, India
Printed in the United States of America

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Contents

Acknowledgments

T his book ties together several interests that I began exploring as an undergraduate student. One concerns the political consequences of economic insecurity and inequality in the United States. A second involves exploring how insights from psychology and behavioral economics could be leveraged to better understand how people make decisions. My belief is that such insights could be useful for explaining how people spend time and money in general and then more specifically for discovering what motivates them to contribute time or money to collective causes. Ultimately, after going on to graduate school at the University of Michigan, spending a year at Vanderbilt, and then joining the faculty at Cornell, I wrote this book as an attempt to bring these interests together and say something new about the possibility for political voice on an important range of issues.

Along the way, I have incurred many debts. I am incredibly fortunate to have advisors, friends, and family who have supported me and pushed the boundaries of my thinking. Id like to spend a few moments acknowledging them here.

I start where it all began, with my undergraduate advisor Bob Frank. As a junior in college I gained my first experience conducting social science research while working with him on a project related to economic inequality. He then inspired me to continue my studies at the graduate level and, perhaps most importantly, sparked a longstanding interest in using social science tools to explain the causes and consequences of economic insecurity and inequality.

As my principal mentor in graduate school, Skip Lupia was everything that a student could ask for. He asked thoughtful, penetrating questions, he was generous with his time, and he displayed excitement about my work and ideas. This book is an interdisciplinary endeavor that weaves together intellectual strands from political science, communication, psychology, and behavioral economics. From the beginning, Skip actively encouraged such interdisciplinary thinking as a vehicle for making novel arguments about how politics and the political world operate. I am incredibly thankful for that encouragement.

Another key advisor in graduate school was Ted Brader. Teds devotion to his advisees knows no bounds, and I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to benefit from his expertise. When I was worried about some aspect of an experimental design, or how to apply for funding, or how to frame parts of my argument (or simply wanted a good wine recommendation), Teds door was always open. And, along the way, I appreciated how he was always supportive and enthusiastic about the project.

Nancy Burns supplied both boundless encouragement and some of the most challenging questions delivered in what was perhaps the nicest way possible (often couched in terms of things that would be great to consider). I appreciated her excitement about the project as well as her gentle nudging to push its implications as far as possible. Particularly as I was developing the initial idea, I also benefited greatly from Scott Pages creativity and energy. I always left Scotts office with a flurry of handwritten notes and new ideas that provided fantastic food for thought.

Jamie Druckman has been incredibly helpful and generous with his time at various stages of the book-writing process. He read pieces of the early manuscript, read the books prospectus, and offered invaluable advice about various elements of the production process. I am fortunate that he is so enthusiastic about the project and that he has gone out of his way to offer advice at so many points.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (via a Dissertation Improvement Grant), Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences, the Gerald R. Ford Fellowship at the University of Michigan, the Center for Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University, and the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University. As this project progressed, I received helpful feedback and advice from Elizabeth Sanders, Kay Schlozman, Jeff Berry, Marty Gilens, Markus Prior, Larry Jacobs, Dara Strolovitch, Andrea Campbell, Dave Karpf, Larry Bartels, Nic van de Walle, Ted ODonoghue, Dan Benjamin, Eileen McDonagh, Bruce Oppenheimer, Dave Lewis, Marc Hetherington, Monique Lyle, Liz Zechmeister, and Alan Wiseman.