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1	Political contradictions : discussions of virtue in American life LaVally, Rebecca 26 January 2011 (has links) This dissertation asserts that American political culture faces a crisis of virtue and explores the role of citizens, journalists and politicians in fostering it. The historic election of Barack Obama on a platform of hope and change in 2008 suggests that Americans yearn for an infusion of virtue into political life. I assert, however, that we have lacked a lexicon of political virtue, or any systematic understanding of which virtues we value and which matter most to us. Nor have we understood whether groups who constitute key elements of our democracy—citizens, journalists, politicians, men and women, Democrats and Republicans—value virtues in politics similarly or differently. Without a working knowledge of the anatomy of virtue in the body politic, what is to prevent us from having to change again? By charting the virtue systems of these key groups, I have made explicit what is implicit to reveal that political virtue is more valued—and more present—than Americans likely realize. This exploration, I believe, contributes to the scholarship of political communication by enabling a fuller and more useful understanding of American political culture—and of the contradictions, curiosities, and surprises that enrich it. / text American politics Party politics Political virtue Newspapers M. Jodi Rell Christopher Dodd John Baldacci Olympia Snowe Kathleen Sebelius Sam Brownback Dianne Feinstein Arnold Schwarzenegger Political ethics Political capital Masculine virtue Feminine virtue Letters to the editor Political websites Political integrity Political liking Female politicians Women politicians News frames Media mores Media norms Celebrity politics American public life Political journalists Political reporting Media agenda setting Political campaigns Crisis of virtue Political immediacy Political androgyny Rhetoric

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Political contradictions : discussions of virtue in American life