Politics and public policy / edited by Harland Prechel.

Includes bibliographical references.

This volume of "Research in Political Sociology" focuses on one of the central themes in political sociology: the relationship between political power and the policy formation process. The first section examines the exercise of power in two distinct policy arenas: the interlocking networks among policy-planning organizations, and the effects of PACs on the voting behavior of elected officials in Canada and the U.S. In contrast to corporate interlocking directorates, although a shift to the right occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, board interlocks of policy-planning organizations are relatively stable over time. The second article shows that PACs affect voting behavior of U.S. elected officials, but they have little influence on voting in Canada's House of Commons. This suggests that the structure of the state affects the capacity of elites to exercise power over it. The second section examines the capacity of theories in economic sociology to explain the social organization of capitalism. The authors move beyond the current institutional frameworks by elaborating how the generic tendencies and contradictions of capitalism generate political conflicts and outcomes. This framework also stresses how organizational and institutional structures, class conflict, logics of action, and the contradictions of capitalism shape and limit the options that are available to social actors. The articles in the third section examine the effects of labor and community based political strategies on policy outcomes. These articles identify the contingent basis of political behavior and show how social structures and historical conditions create both opportunities for and limitations on the exercise power. Whereas the legal structure of labor relations in the U.S. limited the capacity of workers to mobilize, the flexibility of community-based coalitions increased their capacity to form coalitions to mobilize politically. Together, the articles in this volume show that political struggles are integral to capitalist society. These struggles take a range of forms and the outcomes are affected by the historically specific organizational and institutional arrangements in which they are embedded.

Print version record.

Politics and Public Policy; Copyright page; Contents; List of contributors; Editorial board; Special reviewers; Preface; Foreword: Politics and public policy; Politics and power in state policy formation; Assessing and elaborating theories of stability and change in capitalist institutions organizations; The effects of power and historical contingencies on political outcomes; Conclusion; Part I: Exercising Power in State Policy Formation; Chapter 1. The interlock structure of the policy-planning network and the right turn in U.S. state policy; Corporate interlocking directorates

Research on non-corporate interlocks The right turn in U.S. state policy; Data and methods; Findings; Interpretation and historical context; Conclusion; Notes; Acknowledgments; References; Appendix A. Standardized overlaps among policy-planning organizations; Appendix B. Hierarchical clustering of policy-planning organizations; Chapter 2. The impact of campaign contributions on policymaking in The U.S. and Canada: Theoretical and public policy implications; Academic debates: Political power structure; Public policy debates: Campaign finance; Campaign contributions and policymaking: Prior work

Analytic strategies Data, variables, and methods; Results; Discussion; Conclusions; Acknowledgment; References; Part II: Assessing and Elaborating Theories of Stability and Change in Capitalist Institutions and Organizations; Chapter 3. Institutionalism and capitalism: A dialectical and historical contingency approach; Comparative capitalism theories: Critical reviews; Conclusion; Notes; Acknowledgments; References; Part III: The Effects of Power and Historical Contingencies on Political Outcomes; Chapter 4. Changing repertoires of collective action: American general strikes 1877-1946; Methods

Tactical repertoires and general strikes General conditions and local histories; After 1946: The disappearance of a tactic; Conclusion; Notes; References; Newspapers and Newsletters; Chapter 5. Repression, mobilization, and social policy: The Virginia civil rights movement and the war on poverty; Social movements and social policy; Repression and social policy; Distinguishing types of repression; The War on Poverty: History and measurement; Research design and case selection; Mobilization-countermobilization dynamics in Prince Edward County; Prince Edward's War on Poverty

Civil rights mobilization and poverty policy in Nottoway County Conclusion; Notes; References; Appendix A. Demographic and political characteristics, Southside Virginia counties, 1950; Appendix B. Acronyms and descriptions for organizations; Appendix C. Index of archival collections; Chapter 6. The politics of street regulation in Philadelphia: How collaboration creates policy alternatives; Introduction; Methods and data; The early problematization of the street population; Conflict brings cooperation; The drive toward development and the collaborative focus on the streets

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