Social Structural Theories of Voting
This lecture was given in PS 240 on 9/26 and continued on 9/29 briefly.
Possible Exam Questions
1. List and describe the connections between voting and social predictors. 2. Explain dealignment / realignment, and list three realigning elections in the United States. 3. Describe Network Theory, discussing the influence of marriage, parents/children, and friends.
Lecture Material
We covered...
Social context - Origins of our beliefs, etc. - instilled in us - our attitudes and the attitudes of others.
Politics - parties activate class identity, religious identity - based on how much support they gain.
Connections between voting and social predictors
1. socio-economic
2. religion
3. ethnicity
Three fundamental processes by which associations are formed
1. Differentiation - look at a group (group B)and see that they are different than us. Since we do not believe that way, we must be something else (group A).
2. Transmission - attention transmitted through authority figure to child (through friends, teachers, etc.)
3. Contact - direct contact with other members of the social group.
Cross pressured, or cross cutting cleavages-when someone is of multiple indicators(socio-economic status, religion, and ethnicity) that contradict eachother. such as a baptist female, baptists are predominately right leaning, while females are left leaning. or a young cuban, cubans generally vote right, while a vast majority of young voters vote left. Challenges: Dealignment / Realignment (shifts or dramatic changes in political alignments)
Realigning elections in United States history
1800 — Thomas Jefferson - Democratic-Republican Party (from the Federalist Party)
1828 — Andrew Jackson - Democratic Party
1860 — Abraham Lincoln - Republican Party
1896 — William McKinley - Republican Party (marked the beginning of the Progressive Era)
1932 — Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Democrat (New Deal)
1964 - Lyndon B. Johnson - Democratic
1968 — Richard Nixon - Republican
1980 — Ronald Reagan - Republican
Reasons for realignment:
class weakens
increase in education
greater amount of contact outside of our groups
secularization (more so in Europe)
Other challenges:
The Changing American Voter (from 1960's (published in 1970's)) - Vote more on issues instead of party; voters are sophisticated and more knowledgeable. It argues that the 1960's changed voting.
Class - service economy
divide between public (generally left) and private (generally right) sector workers (blue collar vs. white collar) -- less in US than Europe, where this can be a strong predictor
post materialism
quality of life - environment, air quality, etc -- Instead of worrying about financial concerns, focus on liberty, environment, civil rights, quality of life -- Class falls away as a divide -- Fits in well with "The Changing American Voter" argument
partisan identification
Network Theory:
Who you are connected to, who you discuss politics with-- Micro level (how individuals interact); Macro level would be something like "How does the middle class vote?"-- Individuals weigh information they receive-- Social groups are not together all the time-- Strong ties vs. weak ties-- Strong ties include marriage, children, friends (close and acquaintances)-- Weak ties include how you might influence someone you do not know through another person (Example: If person A is married to person B and person B works with person C, even though person A has never met person C, they influence one another through person B.)--
Chain of influences diminishes quickly--weak ties only have an effect when the individual is once removed, no more. More influence over disagreements than though agreements. The more diverse an individual's network is, the more knowledgeable and likely to participate s/he is likely to be.
