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CIAO DATE: 03/02
Critical Review
Rationality Reconceived: The Mass Electorate and Democratic Theory
By Tom Hoffman
Abstract
Early voting behavior research confronted liberal democratic theory with the average American citizen's ability to think politically. Since then, several lines of analysis have tried to vindicate the mass electorate. Most recently, some researchers have attempted to reconceptualize the political reasoning process by viewing it in the aggregate, while others describe individuals as effective—albeit inarticulate—employers of cognitive shortcuts. While mass publics may, in these ways, be described as "rational," they still fail to meet the basic requirements of democratic theory.