ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book combines the social-psychological dynamics with social and political structural transformations. It considers critical cases of political transformations in recent decades, asking how they square with New Political Culture (NPC) concepts. The book investigates NPC ideas using the most extensive study of local government in the world to date, the Fiscal Austerity and Urban Innovation Project. It describes that few patterns are country-specific, but distinctive contribution is its success at transcending country-specific explanations. The book contrasts old and new politics orientations among local officials in Germany. It criticizes certain NPC propositions and presents evidence from Switzerland that issue positions on "old politics" and "new politics" are strongly interrelated. The book explores politics in a locale typical of many citizens in postindustrial societies but one seldom studied by social scientists: middle- and upper-income suburbs.
