MACMILLAN Social Justification and Political Legitimacy: How Voters Rationalize Direct Democratic Economic Policy in America

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 referenda―or “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. From the Back Cover 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 referenda―or “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. About the Author 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.