TY - JOUR
T1 - Disavowing politics
T2 - Civic engagement in an era of political skepticism
AU - Bennett, Elizabeth A.
AU - Cordner, Alissa
AU - Klein, Peter Taylor
AU - Savell, Stephanie
AU - Baiocchi, Gianpaolo
PY - 2013/9
Y1 - 2013/9
N2 - Today, Americans are simultaneously skeptical of and engaged with political life. How does widespread cynicism affect the culture of civic participation? What are the implications for democracy? This study synthesizes data from a one-year collective ethnography of seven civic groups and theoretical work on boundary making, ambiguity, and role distancing. The authors find skepticism generates "disavowal of the political," a cultural idiom that allows people to creatively constitute what they imagine to be appropriate forms of engagement. Disavowal generates taboos, and the authors show how disdain for conflict and special interests challenges activism around inequality. Political disavowal both facilitates and constrains civic engagement in an era of political skepticism.
AB - Today, Americans are simultaneously skeptical of and engaged with political life. How does widespread cynicism affect the culture of civic participation? What are the implications for democracy? This study synthesizes data from a one-year collective ethnography of seven civic groups and theoretical work on boundary making, ambiguity, and role distancing. The authors find skepticism generates "disavowal of the political," a cultural idiom that allows people to creatively constitute what they imagine to be appropriate forms of engagement. Disavowal generates taboos, and the authors show how disdain for conflict and special interests challenges activism around inequality. Political disavowal both facilitates and constrains civic engagement in an era of political skepticism.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891602864&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84891602864&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1086/674006
DO - 10.1086/674006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84891602864
SN - 0002-9602
VL - 119
SP - 518
EP - 548
JO - American Journal of Sociology
JF - American Journal of Sociology
IS - 2
ER -