THE SAD CITIZEN
How Politics Is Depressing and Why It Matters
For many citizens, politics is depressing. How has this come to be the norm? And, how is it influencing democracy?
From rising polarization to climate change, today’s politics are leaving many Western democracies in the throes of malaise. While anger, anxiety, and fear are loud emotions that powerfully activate voters, depression is quiet, demobilizing, and less visible as a result. Yet its pervasiveness is cause for concern: after all, democracy should empower citizens. In The Sad Citizen, Christopher Ojeda draws on wide-ranging data from the United States and beyond to explain how politics is depressing, why this matters, and what we can do about it. Integrating insights from political science, sociology, psychology, and other fields, The Sad Citizen exposes the unhappy underbelly of contemporary politics and offers fresh ideas to strengthen democracy and help citizens cope with the stress of politics.
Pages
240
Tables
33
Halftones
15
Drawings
2
REVIEWS
What people are saying
"Ojeda fills a serious void in the field by offering an in-depth consideration of sadness and its place in the political world.”
Ted Brader | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
“The Sad Citizen sets an agenda for a new and crucially important area of inquiry.”
James N. Druckman | coauthor of “Partisan Hostility and American Democracy”
“A stunningly provocative and original new take on the causes and consequences of citizen engagement.”
Andrea Louise Campbell | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ABOUT
About Christopher Ojeda
Christopher Ojeda is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced. He writes about mental health, poverty, politics, and policy. His work has been featured in CNN, NPR, PBS, Slate, and more.
He has published in top political science journals, such as the American Political Science Review and American Journal of Political, as well as top journals in cognate fields, such as the American Sociological Review and American Journal of Epidemiology.
He is a research affiliate at the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation as well as the UC Merced’s Center for Analytical Political Engagement and Health Sciences Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in 2015. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University from 2015-2017 and a research fellow at Harvard University from 2021-2022.
In his free time, he enjoys swimming, completing The New York Times crossword, and spending time with his nieces and nephews.
You can learn more at cjojeda.com.
