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About Suzanne
Mettler’s current research investigates the sources of the rural-urban political divide and how it is affecting American democracy. Her scholarship also examines how changes in U.S. social welfare and educational policies have evolved since the 1970s, the impact for inequality and Americans’ attitudes about government and participation in politics. In particular, she has probed the impact of spending programs in the tax code, federal financial aid policies for college students, and the Affordable Care Act.
Contributions
How the GI Bill Built the Middle Class and Enhanced Democracy
Why Americans Can't See Government - And Why It Matters
No Jargon Podcast
In the News
Publications
Examines the growing political divide between rural and urban Americans, exploring two key processes: the political-economic transformation that benefited urban areas while marginalizing rural ones, and the nationalization of policy goals. Finds that rural areas, especially those with economic stagnation, lower education levels, higher evangelical presence, and higher levels of anti-Black racism, increasingly shifted support to the Republican Party, deepening the rural-urban political divide.
Proposes a framework to examine how policy feedback is influenced by the presence of policy threats and partisan polarization. Argues that a policy threat can increase salience and trigger loss aversion, thereby expanding policy feedback even in a polarized environment. Using the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a case study following Republican control of Congress and the White House, the findings suggest that policy threats can strengthen support for some groups while diminishing it for others, sometimes reducing partisan polarization and ultimately increasing overall support for the policy.
Examines five pivotal moments in U.S. history when democracy was under siege: the 1790s, the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Depression, and Watergate. Explores how past generations confronted these challenges and offers insights into how America might renew its democratic principles today.
Explores the paradox between Americans' growing distrust of the federal government and their increasing reliance on government social programs. Sheds light on how this paradox shapes the current political landscape and weakens democratic governance.
Offers an impassioned call to reform a higher education system that has come to exacerbate, rather than mitigate, socioeconomic inequality in America.
Explores the proliferation of social welfare policies invisible to most citizens because they are channeled through the tax code or subsidies to private organizations. Shows the challenges inherent in efforts to reform such policies, many of which primarily advantage vested interests and the affluent Americans; and suggests strategies helping citizens form views about these policies and take action to change them. The book’s introduction was featured in Salon.com.
Examines how policymakers in 2009-10 achieved a twenty-year goal of terminating bank-based student lending and replacing it with direct lending, while enhanced Pell Grants and aid to community colleges fell short.
Offers a broad overview of changes in U.S. social programs since World War II, and explores the impact on attitudes about government and social spending.
Tracks shifts in federal social policies from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Presents average benefit rates in real terms and in terms of percentages of the U.S. population covered. Demonstrates persistence of programs for American seniors, the atrophy of direct programs for younger Americans, and the expansion of policies channeled through the tax code.
Shows how the generous education and training benefits for veterans of World War II not only enlarged opportunities for socio-economic advancement, but also promoted more active civic engagement among the beneficiaries. Contrasts the “virtuous circle” between generous social provision and vibrant democracy in the post-war era to the more anemic links in recent decades.