Examines the impact of class status on an individual's participation or non-participation in the political process. Focusing on the relative absence of white working-class involvement in many contemporary US liberal and left social movements, this title goes straight to the source: members of the working class and activists in various movements.

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Different Worlds Part I: Democracy, Social Movements, and Class 1. The Promise of Democracy 2. The Changing Face of Social Movements 3. Class and Politics Part II: Class, Culture, and Political Participation 4. "It's Just Politics": Politicians and the System 5. "It Doesn't Make a Difference": The Absence of Efficacy 6. "People Really Don't Think About It": Interest and Motivations 7. "People Have Got Their Hands Full": Material Resources and Constraint 8. "They're Speaking the Same Language": Cultural Resources 9. "It Takes a Special Kind of Person": Knowledge 10. "You Do Your Work, You Pay Your Bills...You Hope It All Turns Out Okay": Politics, Work, and the Private Citizen 11. Class Diversity and the Future of Social Movements Appendix A: Class: Structure and Collective Action Appendix B: The Concept of Culture Appendix C: Methods Notes References Index

"In this useful introduction to the connection between social class and political participation in the modern United States, David Croteau explores the 'class divide' separating middle-class activism and working-class non-participation in left political and social movements."—Labour History Review