Polarization and the Politics of Personal Responsibility

Mark D. Brewer is Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine, where he teaches broadly in American politics and government and in the Honors College. Brewer's research focuses on American political parties and electoral behavior and religion and politics in the US. He is currently at work on a project examining the place of populism in American politics. Brewer lives in Orono, ME with his wife and four children.Jeffrey M. Stonecash studies political parties and their role in organizing the electorate to represent differing political views within American society. He is presently working on a book about the presumed rise in the incumbency effect in recent decades. The focus is why academics devoted so much attention to an increase that evidence suggests did not occur and how the resulting research affected our understanding of American politics.

• Preface ; I: The Sources of Conflict in American Politics ; 1. Political Conflict in America: Over What? ; II: The Evolution of Liberal Thought ; 2. America's Commitment to Individualism ; 3. Social Conditions and a Role for Government ; 4. Expanding the Concept of Societal Effects ; 5. Inequality and Social Justice ; III: The Conservative Response ; 6. Limited Government, Fiscal Restraint and Free Markets ; 7. The Threats of Communism, Socialism and Redistribution ; 8. Tradition, Religion and Rejection of Moral Relativism ; IV: Politics, Policy and the Personal Responsibility Debate ; 9. Focusing the Debate: Growing Partisan Differences ; 10. Policy Battles Over Responsibility ; 11. What Is and What Should Be ; Appendix: NES Questions ; Bibliography

"Brewer and Stonecash make a strong case that conflicting ideas about personal responsibility lie at the heart of the conflict between Democrats and Republicans in American politics today. By restoring ideas to a central role in shaping political conflict, this book should have a major influence on the way political scientists, journalists and interested citizens understand the causes of deepening partisan polarization." -Alan Abramowitz, Professor ofPolitical Science, Emory University, and author of The Polarized Public"Brewer and Stonecash's clear presentation of the distinctions between modern American conservative and liberal thought is a very inviting means to engage students in discussions about democratic values and party politics." -Marjorie R. Hershey, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University"Brewer and Stonecash shed a novel, essential light on a key element of intense partisan polarization. Highly charged disputes, like health care reform, spring from varying assessments of blame-the system or the individual. This important book sends us back to the basics, thankfully." -Daniel M. Shea, Professor of Government, Colby College