Private Roots of Public Action

Nancy Burns is Warren E. Miller Collegiate Professor and Director for the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan. Kay Lehman Schlozman is J. Joseph Moakley Endowed Professor of Political Science at Boston College. Sidney Verba (1932–2019) was Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor, Emeritus, and Research Professor of Government at Harvard University.

The Private Roots of Public Action is the most comprehensive examination of the similarities and differences in the political activity of women and men. The range of inquiry is enormous. Burns, Schlozman and Verba delve not only into political activity but also into the processes in the family, in the workplace, in places of worship, and in voluntary associations that promote and inhibit political involvement. This book goes beyond the literature in connecting to an enormous range of scholarship in political science, economics, and sociology. This is a fine piece of work.

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Citizenship and Unequal Participation 2. Studying Gender and Participation: A Brief Discourse on Method 3. Civic Activity: Political and Non-Political 4. The Political Worlds of Men and Women 5. The Legacy of Home and School 6. Domestic Tranquility: The Beliefs of Wives and Husbands 7. Domestic Hierarchy: The Household as a Social System 8. The Workplace Roots of Political Activity 9. The Realm of Voluntarism: Non-Political Associations and Religious Institutions 10. Gender, Institutions, and Political Participation 11. Gender, Race or Ethnicity, and Participation 12. Family Life and Political Life 13. What If Politics Weren't a Man's Game? 14. Conclusion: The Private Roots of Public Action Appendixes A. Numbers of Cases B. Ranges of Variables C. Supplementary Tables D. Explanation of Outcomes Analysis Index