Graduate Seminar in American Politics I: Political Behavior
This MIT graduate seminar examines mass political behavior in the American political system, covering political ideology, public opinion formation, voting behavior, media effects, racial attitudes, mass-elite relations, and the links between opinion and policy. The course is built around critical reading of major studies in the field, helping students work through the methodological difficulties of social science research as preparation for their own projects. Materials include the full syllabus and weekly reading list drawn from foundational and current scholarship in political behavior, provided through MIT OpenCourseWare at no cost. There are no lecture videos or graded assignments, but the reading sequence and discussion topics give a clear map of how the subfield defines its core questions and debates. It suits students who already have some grounding in political science and want a structured entry into the research literature on how ordinary citizens think about politics.