Katherine J. “Kathy” Cramer is a political scientist whose scholarship has contributed to our understanding of American political behavior, particularly how people make sense of politics and public affairs. Her innovative approach to studying public opinion through community-based fieldworkââobserving politics through conversationsââreveals how race, place, and class shape political beliefs and behaviors. The Politics of Resentment (2016) is the product of a decade of ethnographic research in rural Wisconsin to understand the ruralâurban divide in the U.S. and its role in contemporary politics.
Professional positions
- 2000âpresent: Assistant (2000â2006), associate (2006â2013), and Virginia Sapiro (2013âpresent) Professor of Political Science, University of WisconsinâMadison
Notable publications
- Cramer, Katherine J., and Benjamin Toff. 2017. “The fact of experience: Rethinking political knowledge and civic competence.” Perspectives on Politics 15(3): 754â770.
- Cramer, Katherine J. 2016. The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Walsh, Katherine Cramer. 2007. Talking about Race: Community Dialogues and the Politics of Difference. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
- Walsh, Katherine Cramer. 2004. Talking about Politics: Informal Groups and Social Identity in American Life. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Degrees
- PhD, political science, University of Michigan
- BA, political science and journalism, University of WisconsinâMadison
