Social Justification and Political Legitimacy

This volume explores voters' political rationalizations. The author analyzes semi-structured interview data from 120 American voters collected from 2013-2015 about their positions on three economic referendaor direct democratic economic policies (DDEPs) on the Arizona state ballot from 2008-2012. Building on the literature on voter reasoning and rationalization, the author firstly probes how the intersection of economic position and partisan affiliation shape partisan voters' rationalizations of their DDEP positions. Secondly, he investigates the political and economic discourses that voters use to justify their DDEP positions. This book extends classic sociological theories of individual-level and collective legitimacy, along with contemporary theories of voter rationalization. The findings also help to build theories of American political ideology and values, neoliberalism, moral economy, and norms of self-interest.

Uses direct democratic economic policy (DDEP) rationalization as a case study of the individual-level processes of legitimation in the light of economic policy incentives and partisan affiliation Explores the use of broader political and economic discourses used by voters to make DDEP positions socially acceptable Establishes four frameworks and approaches for understanding DDEP legitimation: American political ideology, norms of self-interest, moral economy, and neoliberal ideology

Autorentext

Luis Antonio Vila-Henninger is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow for the European Research Council Starting Grant Qualidem at the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium. Luis' research areas include economic sociology, political sociology, the sociology of culture, qualitative methods, and sociological theory. His work has appeared in The Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Sociology Compass, Sociological Perspectives, The Sociological Quarterly, Sociological Inquiry, and **The Bulletin of Sociological Methodology.

Klappentext

This volume explores voters political rationalizations. The author analyzes semi-structured interview data from 120 American voters collected from 2013-2015 about their positions on three economic referendäor direct democratic economic policies (DDEPs) on the Arizona state ballot from 2008-2012. Building on the literature on voter reasoning and rationalization, the author firstly probes how the intersection of economic position and partisan affiliation shape partisan voters rationalizations of their DDEP positions. Secondly, he investigates the political and economic discourses that voters use to justify their DDEP positions. This book extends classic sociological theories of individual-level and collective legitimacy, along with contemporary theories of voter rationalization. The findings also help to build theories of American political ideology and values, neoliberalism, moral economy, and norms of self-interest.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Part I.- Chapter 2. Theory.- Chapter 3. Analytical Approach and Broader American Political and Economic Discourses.- Chapter 4. Data and Methods.- Part II.- Chapter 5. Proposition 201 (2008).- Chapter 6. Proposition 202 (2008).- Chapter 7. Proposition 204 (2012).- Chapter 8. Moral Economies.- Chapter 9. Conclusion and Theory Building.