Human beings are social animals. Yet despite vast amounts of research into political decision making, very little attention has been devoted to its social dimensions. In political science, social relationships are generally thought of as mere sources of information, rather than active influences on one s political decisions.Drawing upon data from settings as diverse as South Los Angeles and Chicago s wealthy North Shore, Betsy Sinclair shows that social networks do not merely inform citizen s behavior, they can and do have the power to change it. From the decision to donate money to a...