Suchergebnisse

The few case studies of participation in local elections display distinct patterns, but the measurements lack comparability with each other or with national election voting studies. By application of the methodology, variables, and categories of the presidential election studies to a Toledo city election, the composition of the electorate is compared with that in presidential elections and some sharp contrasts which appear to have significant implications are observed. Some data calculated from Merriam and Gosnell's classic Non-Voting reveal some developments since 1923. From two prominent characteristics of municipal elections, nonpartisan form and low turnout, a few hypotheses about participation in city elections are deduced and examined. The data support the general proposition that most of the psychological, demographic, and socioeconomic variables display comparable amplitudes in city and presidential elections, but their significance is much greater in city elections, because the low voting level makes their impact proportionately greater.

Any middle-aged member of the political science guild in a retrospective mood might ponder a question: "What ever happened to direct democracy?" In our halcyon student days the textbooks discussed the direct democracy trinity—initiative, referendum, and recall—described their mechanics and variations, explained their origin in the Progressive Era, told us that the United States, Australia, and Switzerland were leading practitioners of direct democracy, cited a few eccentric referenda, gave the standard pro and con arguments, and essayed some judgments of the relative merits of direct and representative democracy. Latter day collegians may pass through the portals innocent of the existence of the institutions of direct government. Half of the American government texts never mention the subject; the others allocate a paragraph or a page for a casual mention or a barebones explanation of the mechanics.A similar trend has occurred in the literature. Before 1921, every volume of this Review had items on the referendum, five in one volume. Subsequently there have been only seven articles, all but two prior to World War II. "The Initiative and Referendum in Graustark" has ceased to be a fashionable dissertation topic, only four in the last thirty years. All but two of the published monographs antedate World War II.

Survey data of 4 open housing referenda (Berkeley, Detroit, Toledo, & Calif) were examined to ascertain the is of voting & to check the validity of soc sci propositions re racial integration. Parallel tabulation of the association of demographic & status variables with the position of Caucasians on the issue display striking consistency among the 4 cases & with established propositions of the is of Caucasian att's toward integration. 1 survey (Toledo) employed att'al scales which showed a strong association of position with authoritarianism, alienation, & sense of pol'al efficacy. Home ownership was not signif except in the atypical Berkeley case. Partial r of the Toledo data demonstrated that simple is are poor indicators of causation; only 3 variables-educ, pol'al alienation, & authoritarianism-had partial coefficients of .10 to .14. Overall, the data buttress major propositions: that authoritarianism & alienation have an affinity with prejudice; that tolerance has a negative association with age & a positive one with income, educ, & status; that there are occup'al diff's & that professionals are sui generis; & that higher educ is the most potent solvent of race prejudice. The data indicate that some of the established propositions are inaccurate without some qualifications, eg, We & Me are unsatisfactory categories for a taxonomy of att's on open housing. There are distinct diff's between professionals & managers, & the most antagonism to open housing is among skilled & white collar-low income workers, not 'the Wc.' The referenda also show the importance of pol'al variables; party affiliation was a potent influence in 3 of the 4 cases. All the variables influence att's & voting on residential integration only within a restricted range, & all of these variables fall far short of explaining the voting. Prejudice is the crucial independent variable. The data document that the federal open housing act of 1968 is a monumental instance of minority rule, promulgating a policy which was favored by less than 30% of white voters in the referenda. The policy does not even enjoy majority support of elite sectors. Will open housing laws be more than symbolic? AA.

AbstractStructural change in city government may not resolve alienation problems.