Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies

Inspired by the lack of Congressional compromise during the 2013 federal shutdown, I explore how compromise works in large groups and representative bodies. An on-line survey, personal interviews, and a discourse analysis of the Congressional Record yield a diverse collection of data, including pers...

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Main Author: Crawford, James E, Jr.
Format: Others
Published: VCU Scholars Compass 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3584
http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4589&context=etd
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spelling ndltd-vcu.edu-oai-scholarscompass.vcu.edu-etd-45892017-03-17T08:27:56Z Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies Crawford, James E, Jr. Inspired by the lack of Congressional compromise during the 2013 federal shutdown, I explore how compromise works in large groups and representative bodies. An on-line survey, personal interviews, and a discourse analysis of the Congressional Record yield a diverse collection of data, including personal and public stories of compromise. I examine the stories and other data through an eclectic mix of contemporary scholarship, borrowing literary theory from the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin, socio-linguistic concepts from American linguist James Paul Gee, and moral philosophy from Israeli thinker Avishai Margalit. I also incorporate the work of political scientists Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, as well as the political campaign coverage of writer and essayist Joan Didion. My examination shows that differences in Discourse, Gee’s expansive model of the discourse community, underpin the uncompromising mindset that dominated the 2013 shutdown. I show that public and personal compromise have obvious differences in terms of scope and complexity, but that all successful compromises, of any size, rest on a bedrock of trust. My research uncovered more effective ways of brokering legislative compromise in the future. I also learned that public opinion polls do not influence legislative decisions. Instead, regular, personal contact, whether by phone, fax, or e-mail, is the best way to engage and influence legislators. Finally, I consider the challenges and limitations of my research, including the difficulty of collecting a large, diverse survey sample, and scheduling personal interviews with public officials. 2014-01-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3584 http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4589&context=etd © The Author Theses and Dissertations VCU Scholars Compass compromise congress government shutdown Discourse Bakhtin American Politics Other Rhetoric and Composition
collection NDLTD
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic compromise
congress
government
shutdown
Discourse
Bakhtin
American Politics
Other Rhetoric and Composition
spellingShingle compromise
congress
government
shutdown
Discourse
Bakhtin
American Politics
Other Rhetoric and Composition
Crawford, James E, Jr.
Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies
description Inspired by the lack of Congressional compromise during the 2013 federal shutdown, I explore how compromise works in large groups and representative bodies. An on-line survey, personal interviews, and a discourse analysis of the Congressional Record yield a diverse collection of data, including personal and public stories of compromise. I examine the stories and other data through an eclectic mix of contemporary scholarship, borrowing literary theory from the Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin, socio-linguistic concepts from American linguist James Paul Gee, and moral philosophy from Israeli thinker Avishai Margalit. I also incorporate the work of political scientists Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson, as well as the political campaign coverage of writer and essayist Joan Didion. My examination shows that differences in Discourse, Gee’s expansive model of the discourse community, underpin the uncompromising mindset that dominated the 2013 shutdown. I show that public and personal compromise have obvious differences in terms of scope and complexity, but that all successful compromises, of any size, rest on a bedrock of trust. My research uncovered more effective ways of brokering legislative compromise in the future. I also learned that public opinion polls do not influence legislative decisions. Instead, regular, personal contact, whether by phone, fax, or e-mail, is the best way to engage and influence legislators. Finally, I consider the challenges and limitations of my research, including the difficulty of collecting a large, diverse survey sample, and scheduling personal interviews with public officials.
author Crawford, James E, Jr.
author_facet Crawford, James E, Jr.
author_sort Crawford, James E, Jr.
title Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies
title_short Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies
title_full Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies
title_fullStr Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies
title_full_unstemmed Seeing the Sausage Made: How Compromise Works in Large Groups and Representative Bodies
title_sort seeing the sausage made: how compromise works in large groups and representative bodies
publisher VCU Scholars Compass
publishDate 2014
url http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3584
http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4589&context=etd
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