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This 3 page paper looks briefly at Schudson's book The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life and his arguments with regard to citizens' behavior today as compared to that in past. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVSchuds.rtf
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are not as bad as we think. He also wonders if anything good could come of it if people who werent informed voted: "Is there any reason to
believe that the political process would be improved by the votes of people so little interested in civic life? Those decrying low turnout must assume there is. Not so Schudson"
(Barone, 1998, p. 92). This paper looks briefly at Schudsons book The Good Citizen: A History of American Civic Life and his arguments with regard to citizens behavior today
as compared to that in past. Discussion Schudson defines four broad periods in American history, and says that civil engagement changed with each one. The first
is the colonial and federal period (the founding of the country) which was characterized by a "politics of deference" (Barone, 1998, p. 92). The second is a "politics of
parties from the Jacksonian years until the turn of the [20th] century"; the third period comprises "a politics of progressive reforms from 1900 to about 1960"; and the final period
is "a politics of rights" from 1960 to the present (Barone, 1998, p. 92). Changes in these periods were caused by "changes in the character of the country, by
changes in the law, and ... by responses to developments in Europe" (Barone, 1998, p. 92). In the early years of the nation, according to Schudson, were "renegade, individualistic, and
distrustful of authority" but still engaged in a "politics of deference" to local authorities that was very similar to the politics of Europe at the time (Barone, 1998, p. 92).
Voters lined up and, with the "higher born speaking first, declared their choices before one and all" (Barone, 1998, p. 92). Voters picked candidates based on their character, and
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