The Role of Citizens in a Democratic Society

       This post is a summary of a book with the incomplete title above and  published in  2012    at  http://www.cqpress.com/docs/college/clawson2e.1.7.pdf
             

                                                                                                                                                                 In a democracy, we expect the public to have a role in government decision making. Yet the precise role that citizens should play in a democracy has been arqued about for centuries. Whether the public actually can and really does live up to democratic expectations is also a debatable topic. A simple definition of democracy is "rule by the people." What exactly, however, does rule by the people mean? Answering this and related questions about democracy is neither easy nor straightforward. In fact, many people across amny centuries have devoted their lives to examining democracy and delineating the proper characteristics of a democracy. Democracy theory is "the branch of scholarship that specializes in elucidating, developing, and defining the meaning of democracy. Democratic theorists focus on citizens ruling capabilities and the role of the public in a democracy, as indicated by the following overview of major democratic theories. Classical Democratic Theory. The earliest Western democratic societies emerged in the city-states of ancient Greece. In Athens`s direct democracy, for example, governing decisions were made by the citizens, defined as all nonslave men of Athenian descent. All citizens were eligible to participate in the Assembly, which met at least forty times per year. Assembly members debated all public issues. Writing centuries later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau advocated popular sovereignty. He envisaged vigorous legislative debate with a preference for unanimous decisions. He favored a direct democracy in which all citizens were to meet, discuss, and decide on the content of the laws. Contemporary democratic elitism and pluralism can trace their intellectual roots to earlier theorists of Representative Democracy, its effect is to enlarge and refine the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country. As its name suggest, Participatory Democracy emphasizes the importance of participation by the public. This theory originated during the protest movements of the 1960s and also represented dissatisfaction with the democratic pluralists models that were dominant at that time. Participatory democrats agreed with these theorists that levels of disinterest and apathy ran high among the public, but they disagreed over the reason for these attitudes. Participatory democrats argue that the political system, with its relatively few opportunities for meaningful citizens influence, breeds apathy. There is no evidence to suggest that once empowered, people will refuse to participate. Citizen apathy is thus a problem to be examined and solved rather than an accepted fact of political life in modern democracies. Two terms that we use frequently in this book are attitude and opinion. Similar to an attitud, an opinion refers to a specific object and express a preference, such as support or opposition, toward that object. As with attitudes, opinion vary in that not everyone holds the same opinion. Specific political opinion do not stand alone in people`s minds. Instead, they are often related to, even guilded by, other mental constructs, most especially beliefs, values, and emotions. Beliefs are thoughts or information a person has regarding an attitude object. A person might, for example, believe that the possibility of a very severe punishment, such as the death penalty, will not deter most people from committing a very serious crime. Someone possessing this belief would be more likely to oppose capital punishment than would someone who believes in the deterrent power of death penalty laws. Values are specific types of beliefs. According to a prominent values researcher, "a value is an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct (instrumental value) or end-state of existence (terminal value) is personally or social preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence" Examples of instrumental values include independence, responsibility, and self-control, whereas examples of terminal values includes a peaceful world, family security, and freedom. Unlike other types of beliefs, values refer to ideals. Whereas beliefs are considered to be the cognitive components of attitudes, emotions make up the affective component. Emotions are especially common when it comes to evaluate political individuals and groups. This book is organized in sections. Each section poses a question that is important for democratic theory, and we present evidence and tools to help you think through the material critically. In the next section we explore topics of political socialization, how the mass media shape public opinion. Do citizens organize their political thinking? We begin by examining whether individuals opinions are organized along a liberal-conservative dimension, and then we focus on other factors that might organize opinions, including personality, self-interest, values, historical events, and reference groups. We focus on how knowledgeable, interested and attentive citizens are, and we investigate public support for civil liberties and civil rights. Many citizens do not structure their issue attitudes along ideological lines. Yet that does not mean they are hapless in their political thinking.