A Profile of Political Activists in Manhattan

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3311463
AutoresRobert S Hirschfield (City University of New York), Bert E Swanson (City University of New York), Blanche D Blank (City University of New York)
Ano1962
Volume15
Fascículo3
Páginas489
Data de publicação1962-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Western Political Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0043-4078 • E-ISSN: 2325-8675
EditoraJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/445038
OpenAlexW4255936295
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas17

A LTHOUGH URBAN AREAS dominate the American political scene / today, our firsthand knowledge of big-city politics and politicians is surprisingly limited. Most of the literature in this field deals descriptively with bosses and machines. Few empirical studies have been concerned with the less sensational aspects of urban political organization or personnel, and almost none have investigated the attributes and attitudes of those big-city political activists who are representative of their parties' general membership. The subjects of the present study are the elected committeemen of Manhattan's three parties -Democratic, Republican, and Liberal. They were considered the group most representative of their parties' organizations with regard to demographic background, policy attitudes, and political activity. The result is a profile of the urban political activist. In many instances this profile confirms widely held impressions; in others, it raises doubts regarding accepted political stereotypes. The data revealed significant differences as well as striking similarities among the party representatives. On the basis of these findings a number of propositions concerning the nature of American politics will be advanced. The research project on which this study is based was conducted from October 1959 to June 1960.' A 20 per cent random sample (787) was taken from an official list of 3,749 committeemen and women provided by the New York County Board of Elections. Interviews based on an 86-item questionnaire were completed with 409 committeemen (51.9 per cent of the sample or 10.9 per cent of the total universe). Among the respondents, 233 were Democrats (65.9 per cent of the Democrat sample), 124 were Republicans (36.5 per cent of the Republican sample) and 52 were Liberals (55.7 per cent of the Liberal sample).2 The legal duties of the county committeeman are few.3 His real work is his informal, year-round effort in behalf of the party. According to his particular

Democracy · Media studies · Political machine · Political science · Politics · Politics of the United States · Sample (material) · Sociology · American Political and Social Dynamics · Law · Public Administration · Race, History, and American Society