I finally finished the book I don't remember why I selected for my book review. The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation is Reshaping American Politics is certainly timely --countdown to the caucuses and the primaries! Woot woot. Russell Dalton, the author, looks at different constructions of "citizenship" and what it means to be a "good" citizen. Through various charts and tables, he illustrates that older individuals do things like vote in large numbers, join the Elks or other civic organizations, and remain loyal to other social groups like churches, labor unions, and political parties. Younger adults, on the other hand, don't vote so much, but volunteer in large numbers, and express political interest in new and different ways.But then Dalton takes forever to show that the difference between "duty-based" citizenship (what the old folk do) and "engaged" citizenship (what the young 'uns do) manifests itself in things like views on the role of government, tolerance attitudes, and beliefs about civil rights. Dalton also points to changes in education from World War II through the 21st century as key to understanding the shift from duty-based views to engaged citizenship. Seriously, though, it all took like forever. And the book is only about 200 pages. Or maybe that's just my engaged-citizenship ADHD age bias showing? Dalton draws on surveys and re-presents the findings in pretty easy-to-read formats. But I think he essentially said it all in the introduction and the first two chapters. The first two chapters are definitely worth reading, though, and the rest is worth skimming -- nobody else really presents a positive view of young adult political trends, it's always doom and gloom and how young people are ruining American democracy, and Dalton definitely takes the opposite stance.
And now, I must contemplate packing for my Thanksgiving trip to the state that caused so much trouble with its primary...
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