POLITICAL ALIENATION IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA

by Robert S. & Robert B. Lamb Gilmour ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 17, 1975

For those happy few who enjoy reading statistical data--numbers and graphs and percentage counts--this may be the place to go. Analytical and with a strong bent for quantifying the obvious--this is mostly old but some new ""news"" about political alienation in America today. A team of researchers from the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan compiled the material, using, among other things, national election surveys conducted over the past fifteen years. These and ""extended personal interviews"" are the substance of the book. Of the interviews one can at least say that they are--unlike most of the other material here--readable. But those interviewed are ""types,"" usually tedious and all too familiar--the ""extremely alienated citizen,"" for example, or his counterpart, the ""politically well-integrated respondent."" For each there is a highly abstract and alienating discussion of what it's all about: Black Alienation, Alienation and Women, Education and Alienation, Age and Alienation, Marital Status and Alienation, etc. For your average disgruntled citizen, not only the method but a few of the conclusions may not seem particularly satisfying or worth it--for example, does one really need to be told that ""the blacks and whites of lower middle class"" are the most estranged?

Pub Date: Nov. 17, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION