Representational Style in Congress

Representational Style in Congress

Author: Justin Grimmer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-12-23

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 110747051X

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This book demonstrates the consequences of legislators' strategic communication for representation in American politics. Representational Style in Congress shows how legislators present their work to cultivate constituent support. Using a massive new data set of texts from legislators and new statistical techniques to analyze the texts, this book provides comprehensive measures of what legislators say to constituents and explains why legislators adopt these styles. Using the new measures, Justin Grimmer shows how legislators affect how constituents evaluate their representatives and the consequences of strategic statements for political discourse. The introduction of new statistical techniques for political texts allows a more comprehensive and systematic analysis of what legislators say and why it matters than was previously possible. Using these new techniques, the book makes the compelling case that to understand political representation, we must understand what legislators say to constituents.


Book Synopsis Representational Style in Congress by : Justin Grimmer

Download or read book Representational Style in Congress written by Justin Grimmer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-12-23 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book demonstrates the consequences of legislators' strategic communication for representation in American politics. Representational Style in Congress shows how legislators present their work to cultivate constituent support. Using a massive new data set of texts from legislators and new statistical techniques to analyze the texts, this book provides comprehensive measures of what legislators say to constituents and explains why legislators adopt these styles. Using the new measures, Justin Grimmer shows how legislators affect how constituents evaluate their representatives and the consequences of strategic statements for political discourse. The introduction of new statistical techniques for political texts allows a more comprehensive and systematic analysis of what legislators say and why it matters than was previously possible. Using these new techniques, the book makes the compelling case that to understand political representation, we must understand what legislators say to constituents.


Congress at the Grassroots

Congress at the Grassroots

Author: Richard F. Fenno Jr.

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2003-06-19

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 0807860638

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However much politicians are demeaned and denounced in modern American society, our democracy could not work without them. For this reason, says Richard Fenno, their activities warrant our attention. In his pioneering book, Home Style, Fenno demonstrated that a close look at politicians at work in their districts can tell us a great deal about the process of representation. Here, Fenno employs a similarly revealing grassroots approach to explore how patterns of representation have changed in recent decades. Fenno focuses on two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented the same west-central Georgia district at different times: Jack Flynt, who served from the 1950s to the 1970s, and Mac Collins, who has held the seat in the 1990s. His on-the-scene observation of their differing representational styles--Flynt focuses on people, Collins on policy--reveals the ways in which social and demographic changes inspire shifts in representational strategies. More than a study of representational change in one district, Congress at the Grassroots also helps illuminate the larger subject of political change in the South and in the nation as a whole.


Book Synopsis Congress at the Grassroots by : Richard F. Fenno Jr.

Download or read book Congress at the Grassroots written by Richard F. Fenno Jr. and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-06-19 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: However much politicians are demeaned and denounced in modern American society, our democracy could not work without them. For this reason, says Richard Fenno, their activities warrant our attention. In his pioneering book, Home Style, Fenno demonstrated that a close look at politicians at work in their districts can tell us a great deal about the process of representation. Here, Fenno employs a similarly revealing grassroots approach to explore how patterns of representation have changed in recent decades. Fenno focuses on two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who represented the same west-central Georgia district at different times: Jack Flynt, who served from the 1950s to the 1970s, and Mac Collins, who has held the seat in the 1990s. His on-the-scene observation of their differing representational styles--Flynt focuses on people, Collins on policy--reveals the ways in which social and demographic changes inspire shifts in representational strategies. More than a study of representational change in one district, Congress at the Grassroots also helps illuminate the larger subject of political change in the South and in the nation as a whole.


The Challenge of Congressional Representation

The Challenge of Congressional Representation

Author: Richard F. Fenno

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 0674074300

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At a moment when Congress is widely viewed as hyper-partisan and dysfunctional, Richard Fenno provides a variegated picture of American representational politics. The Challenge of Congressional Representation offers an up-close-and-personal look at the complex relationship between members of Congress and their constituents back home. When not crafting policy in Washington, the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are busy assessing and building voter support in their districts. Fenno delves into the activities of five members of the House—Republicans representing Pennsylvania and New York, and Democrats from California, Florida, and Illinois. Spanning the ideological spectrum, these former and current representatives are senior lawmakers and rookie back-benchers from both urban and rural areas. Fenno travels with them in their own political territories, watching and talking with them, conducting interviews, and meeting aides and constituents. He illuminates the all-consuming nature of representational work—the complicated lives of House members shuttling back and forth between home and Capitol, building and maintaining networks, and making compromises. Agreeing to talk on the record without protective anonymity, these elected House members emerge as real personalities, at once praiseworthy and fallible. While voting patterns and policy analysis constitute an important window into the legislative process, the nonquantifiable human element that political scientists so frequently overlook is the essence of negotiation. Fenno focuses our attention on how congressional leaders negotiate with constituents as well as with colleagues.


Book Synopsis The Challenge of Congressional Representation by : Richard F. Fenno

Download or read book The Challenge of Congressional Representation written by Richard F. Fenno and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a moment when Congress is widely viewed as hyper-partisan and dysfunctional, Richard Fenno provides a variegated picture of American representational politics. The Challenge of Congressional Representation offers an up-close-and-personal look at the complex relationship between members of Congress and their constituents back home. When not crafting policy in Washington, the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are busy assessing and building voter support in their districts. Fenno delves into the activities of five members of the House—Republicans representing Pennsylvania and New York, and Democrats from California, Florida, and Illinois. Spanning the ideological spectrum, these former and current representatives are senior lawmakers and rookie back-benchers from both urban and rural areas. Fenno travels with them in their own political territories, watching and talking with them, conducting interviews, and meeting aides and constituents. He illuminates the all-consuming nature of representational work—the complicated lives of House members shuttling back and forth between home and Capitol, building and maintaining networks, and making compromises. Agreeing to talk on the record without protective anonymity, these elected House members emerge as real personalities, at once praiseworthy and fallible. While voting patterns and policy analysis constitute an important window into the legislative process, the nonquantifiable human element that political scientists so frequently overlook is the essence of negotiation. Fenno focuses our attention on how congressional leaders negotiate with constituents as well as with colleagues.


Legislative Style

Legislative Style

Author: William Bernhard

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-01-18

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 022651028X

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Legislative style and congressional careers -- Measuring legislative style (with Daniel Sewell) -- The styles -- Explaining freshman styles -- Transitions in style -- The electoral consequences of legislative style -- Styles, lawmaking, and legislative success -- Career advancement and legislative styles -- Legislative styles and evaluations of Congress


Book Synopsis Legislative Style by : William Bernhard

Download or read book Legislative Style written by William Bernhard and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2018-01-18 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legislative style and congressional careers -- Measuring legislative style (with Daniel Sewell) -- The styles -- Explaining freshman styles -- Transitions in style -- The electoral consequences of legislative style -- Styles, lawmaking, and legislative success -- Career advancement and legislative styles -- Legislative styles and evaluations of Congress


Senators on the Campaign Trail

Senators on the Campaign Trail

Author: Richard F. Fenno

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 1998-02-01

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9780806130620

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This is a book about the politics of representative democracy, written from the perspective of the politicians who make it work. Typically, political scientists study campaigns from the perspective of the voter and for the purpose of explaining election outcomes. But campaigns also need to be studied from the perspective of the candidate, for the purpose of understanding representation. Richard F. Fenno, Jr., traveled with ten U.S. senators as they campaigned in their home states-using what he calls the "drop in/drop out, tag along/hang around" method of research-to present a developmental picture of their activities. His focus here is on three such activities—pursuing a career, campaigning for office, and building constituency connections. Taken together, the three constitute the political underpinnings of representative democracy. Fenno describes the achievement, the testing, and the maintenance of representational relationships. He examines challengers and incumbents, winners and losers, and motivations, strategies, and behaviors; and he reports on differences, similarities, and patterns among them. In studying the candidates' varied careers, campaigns, and connections in stages and sequences and in depth—and in allowing us to hear them reflect on these experiences—Fenno has been able to offer rare insights into campaigns and elections, insights very different from conventional ones that concentrate on the behavior of voters. In its focus on the process of representative democracy, Senators on the Campaign Trail offers a rich, rounded, developmental view of some high-level individuals who work at the business of representation. For scholars, the book suggests some qualitative confirmation and added stimulation in forging generalizations about politicians. For citizens, the book argues for replacing the conventional blanket condemnation of our politicians, so prevalent today, with more discriminating judgments about what they do, and why and to what purpose they do it.


Book Synopsis Senators on the Campaign Trail by : Richard F. Fenno

Download or read book Senators on the Campaign Trail written by Richard F. Fenno and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 1998-02-01 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book about the politics of representative democracy, written from the perspective of the politicians who make it work. Typically, political scientists study campaigns from the perspective of the voter and for the purpose of explaining election outcomes. But campaigns also need to be studied from the perspective of the candidate, for the purpose of understanding representation. Richard F. Fenno, Jr., traveled with ten U.S. senators as they campaigned in their home states-using what he calls the "drop in/drop out, tag along/hang around" method of research-to present a developmental picture of their activities. His focus here is on three such activities—pursuing a career, campaigning for office, and building constituency connections. Taken together, the three constitute the political underpinnings of representative democracy. Fenno describes the achievement, the testing, and the maintenance of representational relationships. He examines challengers and incumbents, winners and losers, and motivations, strategies, and behaviors; and he reports on differences, similarities, and patterns among them. In studying the candidates' varied careers, campaigns, and connections in stages and sequences and in depth—and in allowing us to hear them reflect on these experiences—Fenno has been able to offer rare insights into campaigns and elections, insights very different from conventional ones that concentrate on the behavior of voters. In its focus on the process of representative democracy, Senators on the Campaign Trail offers a rich, rounded, developmental view of some high-level individuals who work at the business of representation. For scholars, the book suggests some qualitative confirmation and added stimulation in forging generalizations about politicians. For citizens, the book argues for replacing the conventional blanket condemnation of our politicians, so prevalent today, with more discriminating judgments about what they do, and why and to what purpose they do it.


The Challenge of Congressional Representation

The Challenge of Congressional Representation

Author: Richard F. Fenno

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0674074289

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At a moment when Congress is viewed by a skeptical public as hyper-partisan and dysfunctional, Richard Fenno provides a variegated picture of American representational politics. The Challenge of Congressional Representation offers an up-close-and-personal look at the complex relationship between members of Congress and their constituents back home.


Book Synopsis The Challenge of Congressional Representation by : Richard F. Fenno

Download or read book The Challenge of Congressional Representation written by Richard F. Fenno and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a moment when Congress is viewed by a skeptical public as hyper-partisan and dysfunctional, Richard Fenno provides a variegated picture of American representational politics. The Challenge of Congressional Representation offers an up-close-and-personal look at the complex relationship between members of Congress and their constituents back home.


Going Home

Going Home

Author: Richard F. Fenno

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2003-04

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9780226241302

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Thirty years ago there were nine African Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today there are four times that number. In Going Home, the dean of congressional studies, Richard F. Fenno, explores what representation has meant—and means today—to black voters and to the politicians they have elected to office. Fenno follows the careers of four black representatives—Louis Stokes, Barbara Jordan, Chaka Fattah, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones—from their home districts to the halls of the Capitol. He finds that while these politicians had different visions of how they should represent their districts (in part based on their individual preferences, and in part based on the history of black politics in America), they shared crucial organizational and symbolic connections to their constituents. These connections, which draw on a sense of "linked fates," are ones that only black representatives can provide to black constituents. His detailed portraits and incisive analyses will be important for anyone interested in the workings of Congress or in black politics.


Book Synopsis Going Home by : Richard F. Fenno

Download or read book Going Home written by Richard F. Fenno and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-04 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty years ago there were nine African Americans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Today there are four times that number. In Going Home, the dean of congressional studies, Richard F. Fenno, explores what representation has meant—and means today—to black voters and to the politicians they have elected to office. Fenno follows the careers of four black representatives—Louis Stokes, Barbara Jordan, Chaka Fattah, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones—from their home districts to the halls of the Capitol. He finds that while these politicians had different visions of how they should represent their districts (in part based on their individual preferences, and in part based on the history of black politics in America), they shared crucial organizational and symbolic connections to their constituents. These connections, which draw on a sense of "linked fates," are ones that only black representatives can provide to black constituents. His detailed portraits and incisive analyses will be important for anyone interested in the workings of Congress or in black politics.


The Impression of Influence

The Impression of Influence

Author: Justin Grimmer

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-11-23

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 069116262X

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Constituents often fail to hold their representatives accountable for federal spending decisions—even though those very choices have a pervasive influence on American life. Why does this happen? Breaking new ground in the study of representation, The Impression of Influence demonstrates how legislators skillfully inform constituents with strategic communication and how this facilitates or undermines accountability. Using a massive collection of Congressional texts and innovative experiments and methods, the book shows how legislators create an impression of influence through credit claiming messages. Anticipating constituents' reactions, legislators claim credit for programs that elicit a positive response, making constituents believe their legislator is effectively representing their district. This spurs legislators to create and defend projects popular with their constituents. Yet legislators claim credit for much more—they announce projects long before they begin, deceptively imply they deserve credit for expenditures they had little role in securing, and boast about minuscule projects. Unfortunately, legislators get away with seeking credit broadly because constituents evaluate the actions that are reported, rather than the size of the expenditures. The Impression of Influence raises critical questions about how citizens hold their political representatives accountable and when deception is allowable in a democracy.


Book Synopsis The Impression of Influence by : Justin Grimmer

Download or read book The Impression of Influence written by Justin Grimmer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-11-23 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constituents often fail to hold their representatives accountable for federal spending decisions—even though those very choices have a pervasive influence on American life. Why does this happen? Breaking new ground in the study of representation, The Impression of Influence demonstrates how legislators skillfully inform constituents with strategic communication and how this facilitates or undermines accountability. Using a massive collection of Congressional texts and innovative experiments and methods, the book shows how legislators create an impression of influence through credit claiming messages. Anticipating constituents' reactions, legislators claim credit for programs that elicit a positive response, making constituents believe their legislator is effectively representing their district. This spurs legislators to create and defend projects popular with their constituents. Yet legislators claim credit for much more—they announce projects long before they begin, deceptively imply they deserve credit for expenditures they had little role in securing, and boast about minuscule projects. Unfortunately, legislators get away with seeking credit broadly because constituents evaluate the actions that are reported, rather than the size of the expenditures. The Impression of Influence raises critical questions about how citizens hold their political representatives accountable and when deception is allowable in a democracy.


Home Style

Home Style

Author: Richard F. Fenno

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Longman

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13:

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"Home Style: House Members in Their Districts, the landmark study of eighteen representatives of Congress in their districts, by Richard F. Fenno, Jr., won the 1979 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award and the 1980 D. B. Hardeman prize. The text presents a coherent picture of what elected house members see when they view their constituencies, and how these perceptions affect their political behavior. During nearly eight years of research the author accompanied eighteen representatives of diverse backgrounds in their districts for a unique "over-the-shoulder" perspective on congressional home style. Professor Fenno's observational approach in enlivened with many examples and lends itself to a readable analysis." -- Publisher's description


Book Synopsis Home Style by : Richard F. Fenno

Download or read book Home Style written by Richard F. Fenno and published by Addison-Wesley Longman. This book was released on 2003 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Home Style: House Members in Their Districts, the landmark study of eighteen representatives of Congress in their districts, by Richard F. Fenno, Jr., won the 1979 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award and the 1980 D. B. Hardeman prize. The text presents a coherent picture of what elected house members see when they view their constituencies, and how these perceptions affect their political behavior. During nearly eight years of research the author accompanied eighteen representatives of diverse backgrounds in their districts for a unique "over-the-shoulder" perspective on congressional home style. Professor Fenno's observational approach in enlivened with many examples and lends itself to a readable analysis." -- Publisher's description


The Concept of Representation

The Concept of Representation

Author: Hanna F. Pitkin

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-04-28

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 0520340507

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Being concerned with representation, this book is about an idea, a concept, a word. It is primarily a conceptual analysis, not a historical study of the way in which representative government has evolved, nor yet an empirical investigation of the behavior of contemporary representatives or the expectations voters have about them. Yet, although the book is about a word, it is not about mere words, not merely about words. For the social philosopher, for the social scientist, words are not "mere"; they are the tools of his trade and a vital part of his subject matter. Since human beings are not merely political animals but also language-using animals, their behavior is shaped by their ideas. What they do and how they do it depends upon how they see themselves and their world, and this in turn depends upon the concepts through which they see. Learning what "representation" means and learning how to represent are intimately connected. But even beyond this, the social theorist sees the world through a network of concepts. Our words define and delimit our world in important ways, and this is particularly true of the world of human and social things. For a zoologist may capture a rare specimen and simply observe it; but who can capture an instance of representation (or of power, or of interest)? Such things, too, can be observed, but the observation always presupposes at least a rudimentary conception of what representation (or power, or interest) is, what counts as representation, where it leaves off and some other phenomenon begins. Questions about what representation is, or is like, are not fully separable from the question of what "representation" means. This book approaches the former questions by way of the latter.


Book Synopsis The Concept of Representation by : Hanna F. Pitkin

Download or read book The Concept of Representation written by Hanna F. Pitkin and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2023-04-28 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Being concerned with representation, this book is about an idea, a concept, a word. It is primarily a conceptual analysis, not a historical study of the way in which representative government has evolved, nor yet an empirical investigation of the behavior of contemporary representatives or the expectations voters have about them. Yet, although the book is about a word, it is not about mere words, not merely about words. For the social philosopher, for the social scientist, words are not "mere"; they are the tools of his trade and a vital part of his subject matter. Since human beings are not merely political animals but also language-using animals, their behavior is shaped by their ideas. What they do and how they do it depends upon how they see themselves and their world, and this in turn depends upon the concepts through which they see. Learning what "representation" means and learning how to represent are intimately connected. But even beyond this, the social theorist sees the world through a network of concepts. Our words define and delimit our world in important ways, and this is particularly true of the world of human and social things. For a zoologist may capture a rare specimen and simply observe it; but who can capture an instance of representation (or of power, or of interest)? Such things, too, can be observed, but the observation always presupposes at least a rudimentary conception of what representation (or power, or interest) is, what counts as representation, where it leaves off and some other phenomenon begins. Questions about what representation is, or is like, are not fully separable from the question of what "representation" means. This book approaches the former questions by way of the latter.