This essay is a summary and analysis of Juliet Gainsborough's book "Fenced Off: The Suburbanization of American Politics." It looks at politics in the suburbs. IT IS ONLY A SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS 1-4.

As times presses on, many undiscovered areas of political science begin to emerge. Advancements in the world create new political problems and relationships that have yet to been explored. In her book Fenced Off, Juliet Gainsborough begins to explore a new region of political science that many political scientists have long overlooked. Gainsborough defines the effects of suburbanization on modern day political culture.

Gainsborough opens in Chapter One by telling two stories about two different families moved into suburban communities. Each family is from different time periods, but each one suffers with the same kind of problems. Both the Cousins of 1949 Camptown and the Delaneys of 1990s Arroyo Blanco Estates "resist, but ultimately embrace, the values of the other members of their community" (Gainsborough 2). Gainsborough goes on to argue, "suburban living has the power to affect attitudes and behavior" (Gainsborough 2). Gainsborough states that from the 1960s to the 1980s, social scientists believed the tradition myths of suburbia.

Dalas skyline and suburbs

English: An aerial view of housing developments ne...

Suburban development in Colorado Springs, Colorado

It is argued that these myths keep political scientists from understanding the true combination of suburbia and politics. Gainsborough states that the suburbs are the key to understanding modern politics, but political scientists have overlooked "the relationship between modern suburbs and political behavior" (Gainsborough 3). In her research, Gainsborough points out that census data, public opinion, congressional behavior, and party platforms all show the "connection between suburban living and political behavior" and how that connection has changed over time (Gainsborough 4). At the end of Chapter One, she states that the book's goal is to look at how the connection between suburbia and political behavior has changed in terms of party affiliation and voters in different suburban areas and how congressional districts are increasingly becoming suburban and acquiring Republican representatives. Ending Chapter One, it is noted that:

"First, as older...