Agenda-Setting Works

(Last Updated: May 1998)

Part I: Classics and General Works

Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The Semi-Sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Bachrach, Peter and Morton Baratz. 1962. The Two Faces of Power. American Political Science Review 56: 947–52.

Crenson, Matthew A. 1971. The Unpolitics of Air Pollution. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Downs, Anthony. 1972. Up and Down with Ecology: The Issue Attention Cycle. Public Interest 28: 38&45; 50.

Cohen, Michael, James G. March, and Johan P. Olsen. 1972. A Garbage Can Theory of Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly 17: 1&45; 25.

Cobb, Roger W., Jeannie Keith-Ross, and Marc Howard Ross. 1976. Agenda Building as a Comparative Political Process. American Political Science Review 70: 126&45; 38.

Walker, Jack L., Jr. 1977. Setting the Agenda in the U.S. Senate: A Theory of Problem Selection. British Journal of Political Science 7: 423&45; 45.

Gaventa, John. 1982. Power and Powerlessness. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Cobb, Roger W., and Charles D. Elder. 1983. Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda-Building. 2d ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Peters, B. Guy, and Brian W. Hogwood. 1985. In Search of the Issue-Attention Cycle. Journal of Politics 47: 239&45; 53.

Carmines, Edward G., and James A. Stimson. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Durant, Robert F., and Paul F. Diehl. 1991. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy: Lessons from the U.S. Foreign Policy Arena. Journal of Public Policy 9: 179&45; 205.

Perry, H.W. 1991. Deciding to Decide: Agenda Setting in the United States Supreme Court. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Baumgartner, Frank R. and Bryan D. Jones. 1991. Agenda Dynamics and Policy Subsystems. Journal of Politics 53: 1044&45; 74.

Baumgartner, Frank R., and Bryan D. Jones. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Jones, Bryan D., Baumgartner, and Jeffery C. Talbert. 1993. The Destruction of Issue Monopolies in Congress. American Political Science Review 87: 673&45; 87.

Kingdon, John W. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. 2d. ed. New York: HarperCollins.

Talbert, Jeffery C., Bryan D. Jones, and Frank R. Baumgartner. 1995. Nonlegislative Hearings and Policy Change in Congress. American Journal of Political Science 39: 383&45; 406.

Cohen, Jeffrey. 1995. Presidential Rhetoric and the Public Agenda. American Journal of Political Science 39: 87&45; 107.

Riker, William H. 1996. The Strategy of Rhetoric: Campaigning for the American Constitution. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Jones, Bryan D., James L. True, and Frank R. Baumgartner. 1997. Does Incrementalism Stem from Political Consensus or Institutional Gridlock? American Journal of Political Science 41: 1319&45; 39.

Cobb, Roger W., and Marc Howard Ross. 1997. Cultural Strategies of Agenda Denial: Avoidance, Attack, and Redefinition. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Jones, Bryan D., Frank R. Baumgartner, and James L. True. 1998. Policy Punctuations: US Budget Authority, 1947&45; 95. Journal of Politics 60: 1&45; 33.

Wood, B. Dan, and Jeffrey S. Peake. 1998. The Dynamics of Foreign Policy Agenda Setting. American Political Science Review 92: 173&45; 84.

Part II: Important Case Studies

Nelson, Barbara. 1984. Making an Issue of Child Abuse. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Bosso, Chrisotpher J. 1987. Pesticides and Politics: The Life Cycle of a Public Issue. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Glick, Henry R. 1992. The Right to Die. New York: Columbia University Press.

Worsham, Jeffrey. 1997. Other People’s Money: Policy Change, Congress, and Bank Regulation. Boulder, Colo.: Westview.

Hacker, Jacob. 1997. The Road To Nowhere. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Duffy, Robert J. 1997. Nuclear Politics in America: A History and Theory of Government Regulation. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Birkland, Thomas A. 1997. After Disaster: Agenda Setting, Public Policy, and Focusing Events. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Part III: Issue-Definition

Edelman, Murray. 1964. The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Elder, Charles D., and Roger W. Cobb. 1983. The Political Uses of Symbols. New York: Longman.

Riker, William H. 1986. The Art of Political Manipulation. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Stone, Deborah A. 1988. Policy Paradox and Political Reason. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman.

Stone, Deborah A. 1989. Causal Stories and the Formation of Policy Agendas. Political Science Quarterly 104: 281&45; 300.

Schneider, Anne, and Helen Ingram. 1993. Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy. American Political Science Review 87: 334&45; 47.

Rochefort, David A. and Roger C. Cobb, eds. 1994 The Politics of Problem Definition. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.

Part IV: Psychological and Cognitive Considerations

Kahneman, Daniel, and Amos Tversky. 1984. Choices, Values, and Frames. American Psychologist 4: 341&45; 50.

Simon, Herbert A. 1985. Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with Political Science. American Political Science Review 79: 293&45; 304.

Tversky, Amos., and Daniel Kahneman. 1986. Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions. Journal of Business 59: 251&45; 84.

Quattrone, G., and Amos Tversky. 1988. Contrasting Rational and Psychological Analyses of Political Choice. American Political Science Review 83: 719&45; 36.

Jones, Bryan D. 1994. Reconceiving Decision Making in Democratic Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Part V: Media Studies

McCombs, Maxwell, and Donald Shaw. 1972. The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly 36: 176&45; 87.

Hilgartner, Steven, and Charles Bosk. 1988. The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model. American Journal of Sociology 94: 53&45; 78.

Neuman, W. Russell. 1990. The Threshold of Public Attention. Public Opinion Quarterly 54: 179&45; 76.

Zhu, Jian-Hua. 1992. Issue Competition and Attention Distraction: A Zero-Sum Theory of Agenda-Setting. Journalism Quarterly 69: 825&45; 36.

Iyengar, Shanto. 1993. Agenda Setting and Beyond: Television News and the Strength of Political Issues. In William H. Riker, ed., Agenda Formation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 211&45; 29.

Iyengar, Shanto. 1991. Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McCombs, Maxwell, and Jian-Hua Zhu. 1995. Capacity, Diversity, and Volatility of the Public Agenda: Trends from 1954 to 1994. Public Opinion Quarterly 59: 495&45; 525.

Dearing, James W., and Everett M. Rogers. 1996. Communications Concepts 6: Agenda-Setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Part VI: Comparative Studies

Hogwood, Brian W. 1987. From Crisis to Complacency? Shaping Public Policy in Britain. New York: Oxford University Press.

Baumgartner, Frank R. 1989. Conflict and Rhetoric in French Policymaking. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Reich, Michael R. 1991. Toxic Politics: Responding to Chemical Disasters. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Zahariadis, Nikolaos. 1993. Markets, States, and Public Policy: Privatization in Britain and France. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.