The Consumer Citizen

Ethan Porter is Assistant Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, where he also holds a courtesy appointment in the Political Science Department. He received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Political Communication, and other journals. He has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and other popular publications, and has received grant support from the National Science Foundation and the Omidyar Network.

• 1 Introduction2 The Consumer Citizen and Consumer Fairness3 The Consumer Citizen, Politicians and Policy4 The Consumer Citizen, Political Knowledge and Political Attitudes5 The Consumer Citizen, Trust and Operational Transparency6 Consumers and CitizensReferencesAppendixNotesIndex

This path-breaking book shows that forms of thinking acquired in one personal or social domain may heavily influence thinking in others. It integrates literature from political science, economics, history, and elsewhere to theorize and show the importance of consumer thinking to politics and culture, primarily in the US but also overseas. It provides a novel and compelling approach to studying political attitudes and behaviors — and one that will surely guide the next generation of research.