Search results

Three decades ago Huckfeldt and Sprague hypothesised that partisan context constrains information sharing between neighbours. We develop their theory to identify implications for campaign mobilisation in homogeneous and mixed-partisan contexts. We argue that GOTV spillover effects should vary with the proportion of rival party supporters in a neighbourhood. Based on two samples of households that were either included or excluded pre-random assignment from a street-level GOTV experiment, we test this expectation of differential spillover effects. We estimate neighbourhood party preferences based on targeting data made available by the UK Labour Party. We find that spillover effects on party supporters are smaller in neighbourhoods that include larger shares of rival party supporters. Rival partisans are mobilised in mixed partisan neighbourhoods where the probability of spillovers from mixed partisan households is higher. This paper extends Huckfeldt and Sprague's theory, and demonstrates the importance of social dynamics for parties' campaign strategies.

Social mobilization is a name given to an overall process of change, which happens to substantial parts of the population in countries which are moving from traditional to modern ways of life. It denotes a concept which brackets together a number of more specific processes of change, such as changes of residence, of occupation, of social setting, of face-to-face associates, of institutions, roles, and ways of acting, of experiences and expectations, and finally of personal memories, habits and needs, including the need for new patterns of group affiliation and new images of personal identity. Singly, and even more in their cumulative impact, these changes tend to influence and sometimes to transform political behavior.The concept of social mobilization is not merely a short way of referring to the collection of changes just listed, including any extensions of this list. It implies that these processes tend to go together in certain historical situations and stages of economic development; that these situations are identifiable and recurrent, in their essentials, from one country to another; and that they are relevant for politics. Each of these points will be taken up in the course of this paper.Social mobilization, let us repeat, is something that happens to large numbers of people in areas which undergo modernization, i.e., where advanced, non-traditional practices in culture, technology and economic life are introduced and accepted on a considerable scale. It is not identical, therefore, with this process of modernization as a whole, but it deals with one of its major aspects, or better, with a recurrent cluster among its consequences.

This paper seeks to contribute to an understanding of the dynamics of religion in social mobilization. It argues that existing approaches to the study of the role of religion in social mobilization have been insufficiently nuanced and have failed to probe the multiple and often contradictory influences that religion can have on mobilization channels. On the basis of three qualitative case studies from Malaysia, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, we identify three key factors of religion that can catalyse social mobilization: theological resources, religious spaces, and the interaction of both with the wider context. This leads us to conclude that the boundaries of the 'religious' dimension of social mobilization are fluid, and that the religious element of social mobilization can never be disentangled from its social and political context.

This paper seeks to contribute to an understanding of the dynamics of religion in social mobilization. It argues that existing approaches to the study of the role of religion in social mobilization have been insufficiently nuanced and have failed to probe the multiple and often contradictory influences that religion can have on mobilization channels. On the basis of three qualitative case studies, from Malaysia, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, we identify three key ingredients for religion to act as a catalyst for social mobilization: theological resources, sacred spaces, and their interaction with the wider context. This leads us to conclude that the boundaries of the 'religious' dimension of social mobilization are fluid, and that the religious element of social mobilization can never be disentangled from its social and political context.

SOCIAL MOBILIZATION HAS OPPOSITE CONSEQUENCES IN SOUTH INDIA THAN THOSE PREDICTED BY DEUTSCH. AREAS WHICH HAVE EXPERIENCED SOCIAL MOBILIZATION MOST FULLY HAVE THE LOWEST OF VOTING TURNOUT IN THE PERIOD 1952-1967. CONVERSELY, THE MOST RURAL AND TRADITIONAL AREAS OF SOUTH INDIA HAVE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF ELECTORAL INVOLVEMENT DURING THIS PARTICULAR PERIOD.

This article seeks to contribute to an understanding of the dynamics of religion in social mobilization. It argues that existing approaches to the study of the role of religion in social mobilization have been insufficiently nuanced and have failed to probe the multiple and often contradictory influences that religion can have on mobilization channels. On the basis of three qualitative case studies from Malaysia, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom, we identify three key factors of religion that can catalyze social mobilization: theological resources; religious spaces; and the interaction of both with the wider context. This leads us to conclude that the boundaries of the 'religious' dimension of social mobilization are fluid, and that the religious element of social mobilization can never be disentangled from its social and political context.

This article examines the use of citizen journalism for social mobilization in war-affected Tigray. A mixed approach was used, involving individual interviews, focus group discussions and a quantitative content analysis. The results revealed that citizen journalists provided information for community members to unite, support each other and make informed decisions. This was valuable for women and girls, as the allied forces used rape and hunger as weapons of war. Citizen journalists have inspired people to discuss war-related issues, enlightening capable individuals to join the Tigray Defence Forces. They travelled long distances to send videos and news reports to the Tigray Media House (TMH) and other news organizations abroad. The war coverage of TMH alerted the international community to undertake an independent investigation of genocide. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of citizen journalism during an information blackout, in which mobile phones were not alternative communication channels but the main sources of information.