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The American cultural landscape has shifted considerably since the
1990s. As church attendance has declined, seculars have increased
in number and in political involvement. The economy was supposed to
be the most important issue in the 2008 and 2012 elections, but
social issues such as gay rights and the status of women actually
had a greater impact on vote choice. Moral issues and perceptions
of candidate morality had less effect on voters in 2004 than in
2008. These arguments directly challenge the conventional wisdom
concerning the 2004 and 2008 elections, which were supposedly
decided on the basis of moral values and the economy respectively.
Yet in The Politics of Sex, Susan B. Hansen justifies these claims
theoretically based on evidence about how voters actually evaluate
candidates. Hansen explores trends in public opinion on abortion,
gay rights, and the status of women and finds that "values voters"
are still crucial in presidential elections, even those supposedly
fought over economic or foreign-policy issues. She then analyzes
campaign strategies and vote choice to show how Barack Obama made
effective use of the liberal trends in public opinion on social
issues in 2008 and 2012. Hansen also examines trends in
demographics, religious involvement, the institutional setting, and
public opinion to predict who in future years benefit from the
politics of sex. By providing an historical perspective on the
changing impact of morality politics on presidential elections,
this book will show how and why the politics of sex now favors the
Democratic Party.
In the American federal system, states actively compete for jobs,
business investment, and factory locations. Labor costs have played
an important role in such interstate competition since the days of
the pre-Civil War plantation economy. In recent years, however,
global economic trends have put added pressures on businesses and
government to reduce labor costs. At least, that is what most
politicians, the media, and the business community believe.
"Globalization and the Politics of Pay" examines the economic,
political, and social causes and consequences of declining wages in
the United States. It challenges the conventional wisdom that
globalization is to blame for the decline in workers' earnings.
Susan B. Hansen presents a comprehensive analysis of the many
factors affecting labor costs and concludes that many of them
result from choices made by the states themselves through the laws
and policies they enact. In addition, free-market ideologies and
low voter turnout have had greater effects in keeping wages down
than globalization. In fact, foreign trade and investment can
actually result in higher pay in the state labor market. In this
rigorous yet surprising study, Hansen develops new measures of
state and federal labor costs to test competing theories of the
consequences of reducing wages and benefits. Most economists would
argue that higher labor costs cause higher unemployment, and that
reducing labor costs will lead to higher levels of job creation.
But citizens and elected officials must weigh any employment gains
in lower-wage jobs against slower state economic growth, declining
personal income, and a less-competitive position in international
trade. Cutting state labor costs is shown to have adverse social
consequences, including family instability, high crime rates,
poverty, and low voter turnouts. The book concludes with policy
recommendations for state governments trying to balance their need
for more jobs with policies to enhance productivity, living
standards, social stability, and international competitiveness.
The American cultural landscape has shifted considerably since the
1990s. As church attendance has declined, seculars have increased
in number and in political involvement. The economy was supposed to
be the most important issue in the 2008 and 2012 elections, but
social issues such as gay rights and the status of women actually
had a greater impact on vote choice. Moral issues and perceptions
of candidate morality had less effect on voters in 2004 than in
2008. These arguments directly challenge the conventional wisdom
concerning the 2004 and 2008 elections, which were supposedly
decided on the basis of moral values and the economy respectively.
Yet in The Politics of Sex, Susan B. Hansen justifies these claims
theoretically based on evidence about how voters actually evaluate
candidates. Hansen explores trends in public opinion on abortion,
gay rights, and the status of women and finds that "values voters"
are still crucial in presidential elections, even those supposedly
fought over economic or foreign-policy issues. She then analyzes
campaign strategies and vote choice to show how Barack Obama made
effective use of the liberal trends in public opinion on social
issues in 2008 and 2012. Hansen also examines trends in
demographics, religious involvement, the institutional setting, and
public opinion to predict who in future years benefit from the
politics of sex. By providing an historical perspective on the
changing impact of morality politics on presidential elections,
this book will show how and why the politics of sex now favors the
Democratic Party.
While the Religious Right has received considerable scholarly
attention and media coverage in recent years, the story of the
growing number of Secular Americans those who identify themselves
as atheists, agnostics, or as not having any religious ties has yet
to be told. In the first book devoted exclusively to Seculars,
Susan B. Hansen argues that they are not only increasing in number
and political involvement, but have devised strategies and
alliances to counter the organization advantages of the Religious
Right and its roots in church-based groups and the Republican
party. Case studies of state and local battles over the issues of
gay marriage, reproductive rights, and teaching evolution
illustrate how Seculars have overcome organizational disadvantages
to emerge as significant adversaries to the Religious Right. They
have forged alliances with the media, the scientific community,
minority groups, the Religious Left, and the Democratic Party to
challenge the influence of traditional religious views on American
politics and public policy.
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