Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics

This book starts with a sound premise. That Americans gain more knowledge about political life by being involved in nonpolitical groups. People need not be political junkies to possess some degree of efficacy, rather they can advance this by participating in civic affairs within their communities. The end result will be that they will possess skills that they can use to advance their political goals. This is a very important finding because it sheds light upon the fact that people need not be involved in political action 24-7 to get ahead when they are forced to work for something they want. My only complaint with this book is that is too long in parts. It is just too long.

I got this book for a class I took with Professor Verba. I'm a science major, and this was just an interesting government course I took. I ended up loving Prof Verba AND his book; it's laid out very clearly, and breaks government studies down into a social SCIENCE (with methodology and hypothesis testing) rather than just spouting theories. Needless to say, I really appreciated this. PS- Prof Verba is also one of the best professors I've ever had, and it is definitely reflected in his writing.

This book provides several useful ways to understand the phenomenon of political participation -or the absence of it. Verba and his collaborators examine several variables that encourage people's involvement in politics, showing clearly that if differential rates of political activity reflect not different motivations, but differential resources, democracy is potentially threatened. The book is theoretically and empirically well-grounded -two characteristics of Verba's previous work that appear here again. In spite of being concerned exclusively with the American case, I think it will be a worthy reading for any person interested in politics in other countries, as it was for me.