Us Against Them: Ethnocentric Foundations of American Opinion (Chicago Studies in American Politics) - Softcover

Kinder, Donald R.; Kam, Cindy D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226435717 ISBN 13: 9780226435718

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2010

Synopsis

Ethnocentrism—our tendency to partition the human world into in-groups and out-groups—pervades societies around the world. Surprisingly, though, few scholars have explored its role in political life. Donald Kinder and Cindy Kam fill this gap with Us Against Them, their definitive explanation of how ethnocentrism shapes American public opinion.

Arguing that humans are broadly predisposed to ethnocentrism, Kinder and Kam explore its impact on our attitudes toward an array of issues, including the war on terror, humanitarian assistance, immigration, the sanctity of marriage, and the reform of social programs. The authors ground their study in previous theories from a wide range of disciplines, establishing a new framework for understanding what ethnocentrism is and how it becomes politically consequential. They also marshal a vast trove of survey evidence to identify the conditions under which ethnocentrism shapes public opinion. While ethnocentrism is widespread in the United States, the authors demonstrate that its political relevance depends on circumstance. Exploring the implications of these findings for political knowledge, cosmopolitanism, and societies outside the United States, Kinder and Kam add a new dimension to our understanding of how democracy functions.

About this title

Review:

"Learned, historically grounded, and theoretically ambitious. Seldom have I read social science this well written and broadly conceived. The way that Kinder and Kam weave together decades of important research with their view of ethnocentrism is wonderful." - Samuel L. Popkin, University of California, San Diego"

About the Author:

Donald R. Kinder is the Philip E. Converse Collegiate Professor in the Department of Political Science and professor of psychology and research professor in the Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Cindy D. Kam is associate professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0226435717
• ISBN 13: 9780226435718
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 364