Suchergebnisse

Rational actor models & various theoretical modifications to explain individual participation in politics are not entirely satisfactory & do not take into account by-products of interaction as motivation for choice. "Relational goods," or those goods that can be enjoyed only through collective sharing in a group, are examined as a distinctive type of good that compels individual participation. A typology of relational goods is outlined & the role of a network of influences in direct-contact relational goods is described. Other relational goods characterized as indirect-contact goods are divided into subgroups of instrumental or consumption goods that take the form of payoffs as a function of the utility of action increasing with magnitude of participation & mobilization of benefits. The relational goods approach is also applied to other areas of collective action, & evidence on its existence & hypothesized effects are examined among English- & French-Canadian, US, Dutch, & Asian cultures. 2 Tables, 4 Figures, 54 References. T. Francis

Analyses of US National Election Study data for 1980 & 1984 are used to investigate patterns & causes of the 1984 reversal of the post-1960s decline in elections participation. Results indicate that: the gap in participation between the wealthier & poorer widened, while that between men & women narrowed & reversed direction; & belonging to a group associated with a strong identity affected participation. Findings suggest that shifts in patterns of turnout correspond to shifts in the lines of politicized interests. However, analysis of the participation of blacks provides little evidence for electoral mobilization by the Rainbow Coalition. 12 Tables, 18 References. Modified HA

AbstractPrior research has found that descriptive representation by race, ethnicity, or gender increases political action, but it has paid less attention to how the intersection of these identities influences participation. We extend this literature by assessing the effects on voter turnout of collective descriptive representation in U.S. state legislatures on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, and their intersections. We argue that members of historically excluded groups respond to the overall composition of their state's legislature. We test this proposition in seven elections (2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012). Our results are consistent with the minority empowerment literature, as overall collective representation does substantially increase turnout among previously excluded groups. However, the impact varies intersectionally. For white women, gender trumps race, as higher collective gender representation, regardless of race or ethnicity, increases voter turnout. For African Americans, race trumps gender, as both black men and women respond most consistently to higher levels of collective racial representation. For Latinos, we find less consistent results, but note a collective ethnic turnout effect for 2002 and 2006. We conclude that collective representation, especially at the intersection of identities, is an important factor influencing levels of turnout among previously excluded groups.

The Mexican American electorate includes large numbers of immigrants as well as people of later generations. In this article, we test whether cross-generational acculturation shapes the ways in which Mexican American voters selected between John Kerry and George Bush in the 2004 presidential election. Although change across immigrant generations has long been a critical question in American political behavior, it is only with the current wave of immigrants and their U.S.-born children and grandchildren that it is possible to measure the relationship between acculturation and vote choice. With generational replacement, changes in the dynamics of vote choice across immigrant generations could herald long-term changes in the mechanisms of vote choice. We find that generation does shape Mexican American vote choice, both directly—in the simple measure of the generational dummy variables—and in the interaction between generation and partisanship, issue evaluation, religion, and state of residence.

The extent to which voter expectations about candidate electoral success & margin of victory are subject to systematic biases is investigated, using National Election study interview data (approximately 1,500 Rs) from the 1980 US presidential election. In particular, the extent to which candidate supporters overestimate their choice's likelihood of success is examined. A dramatic bias in the direction of "wishful thinking" is found. Alternative explanations of this phenomenon are reviewed, including a model based on nonrandom contact networks & one based on preference-related differences in expectations about exogenous variables that could affect the election outcome. 9 Tables, 36 References. Modified HA