Page 254 - Media Effects Advances in Theory and Research

9. POLITICAL COMMUNICATION EFFECTS 243

process. These range from structural changes in office procedures thereby
accommodating the press to influencing the legislative strategies of indi-
vidual members. Media publicity coupled with the chairmanship of an
important committee or subcommittee can be a powerful tool for achiev-
ing policy goals (Smith, 1988) and raising large amounts of money to help
ward off electoral challengers and wage reelection campaigns (Etzioni,
1988; Goldenberg & Traugott, 1984). The vast amount of money raised by
politicians for their campaigns is now thought by some to represent a
major antidemocratic force (e.g., Bennett, 1992; Drew, 1983; Etzioni, 1988).
This conclusion is controversial, however (e.g., Sabato, 1987).

RETHINKING CITIZENSHIP AND EFFORTS
TO RECONSTRUCT CIVIC LIFE

Decline in Citizen Engagement?

Discrepancies between the high normative standards of democratic the-
ory and empirical evidence of low levels of citizens’ engagement have
been noted repeatedly since the early Columbia voting studies (Berelson
et al., 1954). Narrow concern with falling voting turnout rates turned to
near panic with the popular acceptance of Robert Putnam’s (1995) “bowl-
ing alone” thesis and evidence for a 30-year decline in a wide range of
other political and civic participation indicators. Twelve political and
communal activities declined an average of 27% from 1973–74 to 1993–94,
for example (Putnam, 2000, p. 45). Trust in other people, a key indicator in
Putnam’s concept of social capital, slipped from 55% to 35% from 1960 to
1999 (Putnam, 2000, p. 140).
How serious are these problems? Putnam (2000) himself notes that vol-
unteering is at a record high and adds that helping behavior is positively
related to other activities and to low levels of cynicism. He finds some
mixed evidence for an increase in small group and social movements
activity. Others have noted that his trends may actually be cycles; the
period of the 60s and early 70s was a high-water mark for electoral partic-
ipation being preceded by a dormant period of the 20s equal to that of the
80s and 90s.
Michael Schudson (1998, 1999) attacks the criteria of Putnam’s thesis,
arguing that the outdated “rationalistic information-based” informed citi-
zen model should be replaced by a rights-based monitorial citizen model
better suited to the conditions of contemporary society. Assertion of
rights by a diverse set of groups is a key feature of public life. This “rev-
olution in due process” expands the political field and results in a
growth of elite-challenging political action and a proliferation of nonparty