Talking about Politics: Informal Groups and Social Identity in American Life
Katherine Cramer Walsh
Abstract
Whether at parties, around the dinner table, or at the office, people talk about politics all the time. Yet while such conversations are a common part of everyday life, political scientists know very little about how they actually work. In this book, the book provides an innovative, intimate study of how ordinary people use informal group discussions to make sense of politics. It examines how people rely on social identities—their ideas of who “we” are—to come to terms with current events. The book shows how political conversation, friendship, and identity evolve together, creating stronger co ... More
Whether at parties, around the dinner table, or at the office, people talk about politics all the time. Yet while such conversations are a common part of everyday life, political scientists know very little about how they actually work. In this book, the book provides an innovative, intimate study of how ordinary people use informal group discussions to make sense of politics. It examines how people rely on social identities—their ideas of who “we” are—to come to terms with current events. The book shows how political conversation, friendship, and identity evolve together, creating stronger communities and stronger social ties.
Keywords:
politics,
political science,
informal discussion,
social identities,
current events,
friendship,
community
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2003 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226872186 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: March 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226872216.001.0001 |
