Class Attitudes in America: Sympathy for the Poor, Resentment of the Rich, and Political Implications

This book explains a long-standing puzzle in American politics: why so many Americans support downwardly redistributive social welfare programs, when such support seems to fly in the face of standard conceptions of the American public as anti-government, individualistic, and racially prejudiced. Bringing class attitudes into the analysis, Spencer Piston demonstrates through rigorous empirical analysis that sympathy for the poor and resentment of the rich explain American support for downwardly redistributive programs - not only those that benefit the middle class, but also those that explicitly target the poor. The book captures an important and neglected component of citizen attitudes toward a host of major public policies and candidate evaluations. It also explains why government does so little to combat economic inequality; in key instances, political elites downplay class considerations, deactivating sympathy for the poor and resentment of the rich.

Author: Spencer Piston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 04/19/2018
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.82lbs
Size: 9.03h x 7.29w x 0.78d
ISBN: 9781108447126

About the Author
Piston, Spencer: - Spencer Piston is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston University. He studies the influence of attitudes toward racial and class groups on public opinion and political behavior.