ABSTRACT
This book is about the United States Congress. We have entitled it The Atomistic Congress to convey our impression that Congress is, in the final analysis, a group of individuals rather than a collective whole. Thus it is best understood as a product of the individual aspirations of its members, rather than a function of the collective public will. We suggest that because of its fundamentally atomistic character, change in Congress is shaped by changes in society and the political culture that have had ramifications through the American political system. We think that an emphasis on cultural foundations aids in the interpretation of congressional change, a topic of great academic interest and practical import. This volume searches for an understanding of how and why Congress changes over time. Unlike the atoms of the physical universe, whose behavior can be explained and predicted up to a point, the atomistic Congress seems often to defy prediction. We believe that a broader cultural interpretation, while perhaps not yielding a set of specific predictions, nonetheless offers the best basis for thinking about the future. The societal dynamics we catalogue are likely to be with us for a while, and even if we cannot divine the future, we may at least be able to comprehend some of the forces producing it.
