The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power

Author:   Jeffrey C. Alexander (Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Yale University)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
ISBN:  

9780199926435


Pages:   384
Publication Date:   31 May 2012
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
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The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power


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Author:   Jeffrey C. Alexander (Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Yale University)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.10cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 15.50cm
Weight:   0.522kg
ISBN:  

9780199926435


ISBN 10:   0199926433
Pages:   384
Publication Date:   31 May 2012
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order   Availability explained
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Preface Prologue Power, Performance and Representation Chapter 1 Civil Sphere and Public Drama Chapter 2 Becoming a Collective Representation Chapter 3 Spirit of the Ground Game Heroes, Binaries and Boundaries Chapter 4 Imagining Heroes Chapter 5 Working the Binaries Chapter 6 Walking the Boundaries Victory and Defeat Chapter 7 Celebrity Metaphor Chapter 8 Palin Effect Chapter 9 Financial Crisis Epilogue Note on Concept and Method Appendix Endnotes Index

Reviews

In an extraordinary analysis of real breadth and depth, Jeffrey Alexander challenges us to re-think Barack Obama's election as president. Political observers have focused too much on the plain demographic facts of 2008, and too little about how and why those facts came to be. Reflect on the performance that takes place on a grand stage, Alexander advises, and we'll see the big picture. --Larry J. Sabato, author of The Year of Obama, and Director, Center for Politics, University of Virginia This is a work of dazzling brilliance and imagination. It sparkles with new insights that go well beyond standard interpretations of electoral politics. Especially to be treasured is its keen understanding of civil society and the importance of moral meaning and symbolism in public life. --Robert Wuthnow, Professor and Department Chair of Sociology, Princeton University Revealing himself to be de Tocqueville's true heir, Jeffrey Alexander draws a sweeping and daring portrait of the heroes, villains, fools, and mavericks who peopled the 2008 American presidential campaign. For Alexander, political elections are serious and dramatic moments of cultural meaning-making, in which the boundaries of civil society are forged and challenged. The Performance of Politics is riveting, taking the reader instantly back to those heady days of the 2008 campaign and, in the process, bringing sociological theory vividly to life. --Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Sociology, Swarthmore College This book is a 'Making of the President 2008' with brains. The entire cast, Obama, Hillary, McCain and Palin enter this compelling narrative in the jaws of an unexpected Wall Street collapse. Uncompromisingly intelligent, yet a compulsive read. --Scott Lash, Professor and Director of Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London Jeffrey Alexander's intriguing argument in The Performance of Politics, a meticulous review of the 2008


<br> In an extraordinary analysis of real breadth and depth, Jeffrey Alexander challenges us to re-think Barack Obama's election as president. Political observers have focused too much on the plain demographic facts of 2008, and too little about how and why those facts came to be. Reflect on the performance that takes place on a grand stage, Alexander advises, and we'll see the big picture. --Larry J. Sabato, author of The Year of Obama, and Director, Center for Politics, University of Virginia<p><br> This is a work of dazzling brilliance and imagination. It sparkles with new insights that go well beyond standard interpretations of electoral politics. Especially to be treasured is its keen understanding of civil society and the importance of moral meaning and symbolism in public life. --Robert Wuthnow, Professor and Department Chair of Sociology, Princeton University<p><br> Revealing himself to be de Tocqueville's true heir, Jeffrey Alexander draws a sweeping and daring portrait of the heroes, villains, fools, and mavericks who peopled the 2008 American presidential campaign. For Alexander, political elections are serious and dramatic moments of cultural meaning-making, in which the boundaries of civil society are forged and challenged. The Performance of Politics is riveting, taking the reader instantly back to those heady days of the 2008 campaign and, in the process, bringing sociological theory vividly to life. --Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Sociology, Swarthmore College<p><br> This book is a 'Making of the President 2008' with brains. The entire cast, Obama, Hillary, McCain and Palin enter this compelling narrative in the jaws of an unexpected Wall Street collapse. Uncompromisingly intelligent, yet a compulsive read. --Scott Lash, Professor and Director of Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London<p><br> Jeffrey Alexander's intriguing argument in The Performance of Politics, a meticulous review of the 2008


In an extraordinary analysis of real breadth and depth, Jeffrey Alexander challenges us to re-think Barack Obama's election as president. Political observers have focused too much on the plain demographic facts of 2008, and too little about how and why those facts came to be. Reflect on the performance that takes place on a grand stage, Alexander advises, and we'll see the big picture. --Larry J. Sabato, author of The Year of Obama, and Director, Center for Politics, University of Virginia This is a work of dazzling brilliance and imagination. It sparkles with new insights that go well beyond standard interpretations of electoral politics. Especially to be treasured is its keen understanding of civil society and the importance of moral meaning and symbolism in public life. --Robert Wuthnow, Professor and Department Chair of Sociology, Princeton University Revealing himself to be de Tocqueville's true heir, Jeffrey Alexander draws a sweeping and daring portrait of the heroes, villains, fools, and mavericks who peopled the 2008 American presidential campaign. For Alexander, political elections are serious and dramatic moments of cultural meaning-making, in which the boundaries of civil society are forged and challenged. The Performance of Politics is riveting, taking the reader instantly back to those heady days of the 2008 campaign and, in the process, bringing sociological theory vividly to life. --Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Sociology, Swarthmore College This book is a 'Making of the President 2008' with brains. The entire cast, Obama, Hillary, McCain and Palin enter this compelling narrative in the jaws of an unexpected Wall Street collapse. Uncompromisingly intelligent, yet a compulsive read. --Scott Lash, Professor and Director of Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, University of London Jeffrey Alexander's intriguing argument in The Performance of Politics, a meticulous review of the 2008 campaign, is that his fellow sociologists have overemphasized impersonal social forces at the expense of the theater of public life--the way politician perform symbolically. It's a prosaic call for a more poetic (or at least aesthetic) understanding of politics. Ideology must connect viscerally, or it doesn't connect at all. Liberalism, like any idea or product, can succeed only if it sells. --The New York Times Book Review Representing a study of politics through a lens of cultural sociology, Alexander presents original theoretical arguments on the democratic struggle for power in America, and in the process provides a new explanation for Obama's historic victory. --Contemporary Sociology It brings sociological insight to public discussion of electoral politics, and as an eminently teachable book, it should also engage a new generation of students in the study of cultural power. All readers will enjoy reassessing their experience of the 2008 presidential election, and bring new powers of interpretation to future electoral contests. --American Journal of Sociology


Author Information

Jeffrey C. Alexander is Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology at Yale University, and a Director of the Center for Cultural Sociology. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including The Civil Sphere and The Meanings of Social Life.

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