Professor
Pick Hall 318A
773 702 8075
John Brehm is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Brehm is a specialist in the study of American political behavior, with an emphasis on public opinion and political organizations. Brehm's first book, The Phantom Respondents: Opinion Surveys and Political Representation (Michigan Press, 1993), studies one of the most serious flaws in the public opinion industry, namely, the enormously high non-response rates. This book develops a psychologically based model to explain why people choose or refuse to participate in surveys, and then uses that model to examine the consequences of non-response for analysis of politics.
Selected Publications:
- Teaching, Managing Tasks, and Brokering Trust: Functions of the Public Executive with Scott Gates (Russel Sage Foundation, 2008).
- Working, Shirking, and Sabotage: Bureaucratic Response to a Democratic Public with Scott Gates (University of Michigan Press, 1997).
- Hard Choices, Easy Answers: Values, Information, and Public Opinion with R. Michael Alvarez (Princeton University Press, 2002).
- The Phantom Respondents: Opinion Surveys and Political Representation (University of Michigan Press, 1993).
