American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy / Edition 2

by Mark A. Smith

Overview

Most people believe that large corporations wield enormous political power when they lobby for policies as a cohesive bloc. With this controversial book, Mark A. Smith sets conventional wisdom on its head. In a systematic analysis of postwar lawmaking, Smith reveals that business loses in legislative battles unless it has public backing. This surprising conclusion holds because the types of issues that lead businesses to band together—such as tax rates, air pollution, and product liability—also receive the most media attention. The ensuing debates give citizens the information they need to hold their representatives accountable and make elections a choice between contrasting policy programs.

Rather than succumbing to corporate America, Smith argues, representatives paradoxically become more responsive to their constituents when facing a united corporate front. Corporations gain the most influence over legislation when they work with organizations such as think tanks to shape Americans' beliefs about what government should and should not do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226764641
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	10/31/2000
Series:	Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion
Edition description:	1
Pages:	245
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Mark A. Smith is professor of political science and adjunct professor of comparative religions at the University of Washington. He is the author of two books: The Right Talk: How Conservatives Transformed the Great Society into the Economic Society and American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Business Unity and Its Consequences for Representative Democracy
3. Identifying Business Unity
4. A Portrait of Unifying Issues
5. Public Opinion, Elections, and Lawmaking
6. Overt Sources of Business Power
7. Structural Sources of Business Power
8. The Role of Business in Shaping Public Opinion
9. The Compatibility of Business Unity and Popular Sovereignty
Appendix A
Additional Coding Rules Used to Uncover Positions of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Appendix B
The Potential for Feedback between Policy and Opinion
References
Index