Small personal interactions can have big political effects. In the 2004 campaigns, this process worked well for Howard Dean, but it worked even better for the Christian Right.
References
1.
ArendtHannah. Between Past and Future: Six Exercises in Political Thought (Penguin Group, 1989). This collection of Arendt's essays is an excellent introduction to the full range of her thought and her understanding of politics; see especially “Truth and Politics,” which reveals the normative dimensions of the politics of small things.
2.
CollinsRandall. Interaction Ritual Chains (Princeton University Press, 2004). Develops the theoretical significance of the micro-interactive component of social life.
3.
DayanDanielKatzElihu. Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History (Harvard University Press, 1994). A classic work on television's contribution to the constitution of the social order, demonstrating how media are woven into the fabric of society.
4.
GoffmanErving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Knopf, 1972). Anticipates the full range of Goffman's distinctive sociology, revealing the interactive creation of “the politics of small things.”.
5.
RheingoldHoward. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution (Basic Books, 2003). An exploration of the political consequences of the new mobile electronic media, pointing toward new ways in which small things have big consequences.
