true
true
You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.
A Practice Sequence: Joining an Academic Conversation
Use the space provided to answer the question below. Click the “submit” button to turn in your work. The activity below will help you practice the strategies of observing, asking questions, and examining alternatives. See Chapter 1, Academic Writers Make Inquiries in your book.
The following excerpt is taken from Thomas Patterson’s The Vanishing Voter (2002), an examination of voter apathy. Read the excerpt and then complete the exercise that follows.
Does a diminished appetite for voting affect the health of American politics? Is society harmed when the voting rate is low or in decline? As the Chicago Tribune said in an editorial, it may be “humiliating” that the United States, the oldest continuous democracy, has nearly the lowest voting rate in the world. But does it have any practical significance? . . .
The increasing number of nonvoters could be a danger to democracy. Although high participation by itself does not trigger radical change, a flood of new voters into the electorate could possibly do it. It’s difficult to imagine a crisis big and divisive enough to prompt millions of new voters to suddenly flock to the polls, especially in light of Americans’ aversion to political extremism. Nevertheless, citizens who are outside the electorate are less attached to the existing system. As the sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset observed, a society of nonvoters “is potentially more explosive than one in which most citizens are regularly involved in activities which give them some sense of participation in decisions which affect their lives.”
Voting can strengthen citizenship in other ways, too. When people vote, they are more attentive to politics and are better informed about issues affecting them. Voting also deepens community involvement, as the philosopher John Stuart Mill theorized a century ago. Studies indicate that voters are more active in community affairs than nonvoters are. Of course, this association says more about the type of person who votes as opposed to the effect of voting. But recent evidence, as Harvard University’s Robert Putnam notes, “suggests that the act of voting itself encourages volunteering and other forms of government citizenship.”
In this excerpt, Patterson presents two arguments: that increasing voter apathy is a danger to democracy and that voting strengthens citizenship. With which of these arguments do you sympathize more? Why? Can you imagine reasons that another person might not agree with you?
Does a diminished appetite for voting affect the health of American politics? Is society harmed when the voting rate is low or in decline? As the Chicago Tribune said in an editorial, it may be “humiliating” that the United States, the oldest continuous democracy, has nearly the lowest voting rate in the world. But does it have any practical significance? . . .
The increasing number of nonvoters could be a danger to democracy. Although high participation by itself does not trigger radical change, a flood of new voters into the electorate could possibly do it. It’s difficult to imagine a crisis big and divisive enough to prompt millions of new voters to suddenly flock to the polls, especially in light of Americans’ aversion to political extremism. Nevertheless, citizens who are outside the electorate are less attached to the existing system. As the sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset observed, a society of nonvoters “is potentially more explosive than one in which most citizens are regularly involved in activities which give them some sense of participation in decisions which affect their lives.”
Voting can strengthen citizenship in other ways, too. When people vote, they are more attentive to politics and are better informed about issues affecting them. Voting also deepens community involvement, as the philosopher John Stuart Mill theorized a century ago. Studies indicate that voters are more active in community affairs than nonvoters are. Of course, this association says more about the type of person who votes as opposed to the effect of voting. But recent evidence, as Harvard University’s Robert Putnam notes, “suggests that the act of voting itself encourages volunteering and other forms of government citizenship.”
In this excerpt, Patterson presents two arguments: that increasing voter apathy is a danger to democracy and that voting strengthens citizenship. With which of these arguments do you sympathize more? Why? Can you imagine reasons that another person might not agree with you?
A successful response to this question will consider the concepts reviewed in Chapter 1. Refer to Chapter 1, Starting with Inquiry as you reflect on your response to this activity.