Electoral Sociology & Voter Behavior

Introduction

• Vote and behaviors that produce it are a privileged field of political sociology.
• Voting remains central to designating leaders and is practiced in regimes that have little to do with democracy.
• Voting reflects societal structure or division along permanent or ephemeral cleavage lines.
• Voting, theoretically personal and secret, is a "social act".
• Changes in voting logic allow measuring societal changes.
• Electoral sociology studies the factors determining votes within social interactions.
• Electoral sociology has a well-defined field but cannot be reduced to electoral systems, party systems, campaign phenomena, marketing, or political communication.
• It finds meaning in its interrelation with politology, to situate electoral phenomena in a given society.
• Electoral sociology has advanced due to quantitative methods and data collection modes, leading to vote explanation paradigms.

Citizenship and Electoral Volatility

• Electoral volatility, borrowed from chemistry, refers to the tendency to change parties or shift from active voting to abstention.
• Electoral volatility has increased in participation and electoral orientation, with intermittent abstention as a manifestation.
• Volatility manifests through preference changes from one election to another and score variations among candidates/parties between elections, reflecting declines in strong variables, increased contextual variables, or weight recomposition of certain variables.

Active vs. Passive Citizens

• Democracy opposes active and passive citizens.
• Active citizens, need to participate, not just acquiesce, according to John Stuart Mill.
• Passive citizens, according to Berelson, Lazarsfeld, McPhee, Almond, and Verba, are uninformed, unengaged, inactive, and their electoral decision making lacks rational calculation.

Participation and Democracy

• Theories can be distinguished between elitist and Almond/Verba's three political cultures.
• Elitist theories suggest democracy governs and meets citizen expectations which only elites can handle with consenting masses.
• Almond and Verba identify three citizen postures: parochial (local integration), subjection (submission), and participation (engagement).
• Doctrine distinguishes between conventional behaviors (information, voting, discussions, petitions, demonstrations, activism, adhesion) and non-conventional behaviors (protest, revolution) in political involvement.
• There are two models analyze protest participation: psychological and cultural.

Abstention

• Before universal suffrage, there was a census suffrage; only those who paid the “census” tax, paid by the wealthy, could vote.
• Daniel Gaxie notes a hidden "censorship" in today's societies.
• Because of social spaces there is uneven distribution of attention in politics and the education influences resources which are critical for navigating their option
• The feeling of political "competence" is crucial as social position influences the legitimacy of political expression even at equal competency levels.
• Working-class citizens may tend towards self-disqualification, masking feeling of unworthiness which rejects indifference or indifference towards politics but also wanting to be question
• Conversely, privileged class members often overestimate their competence.
• Low political engagement in some populations is due to a lack of political opinion leaders and mobilizing figures.
• Political shifts translated to partisan and union leadership retreat.

Measuring Electoral Mobilization

• Abstention rate measures the percentage of registered voters who do not vote.
• Voter turnout is the inverse of the abstention rate, measured percentage of registered voters who voted.
• Social variables of abstention: electoral participation, political interest, and perception of political competency.
• Abstention is explained by sociological variables, like Anne Muxe's systemic abstention or from persons not “in the game,’ which represents an individual’s social domination.
• Precarious and less educated individuals are over-represented in abstention.
• Bourdieu sees it as a manifestation of symbolic domination and disproportionate distribution of cultural capital.
• Daniel Gaxie's "cens caché" organizes political domination in modern democracies.

Societal Barriers’ Impact on Voting

• A societal barrier continues to limit the propensity of "dominated" to participate, despite the abolition of the census based vote.
• This barrier, based on unequal cultural resources, relies on the subjective belief of competence as much as the objective competence.
• Politicization needs, a feeling of competence is connected to an agent’s feeling for political progression with an ability to political construction
• Educational duration determines mastery, providing tools and appetite for politicization.
• Differential politicization is a consequence of inequality in the educational system according to Gaxie.

Other Findings on Abstention

• Celine Braconnier explains that a lack of political landmarks, illustrated by no mastery of left and right divide, can be revealed through uninterest
• Muxel's "hors du jeu politique" (outside political game) is limited to political apathy but linked with difficult instruction
• Abstainers were more consistent constant carrying societal contestation but structuring structural defiance
• Muxel named intermittent abstention from voter that are interested in politics.
• These voters tend to be younger and more mobile which causes volatility and less systematic voting.

Media and Elections

• Research finds limited media effects on individual opinions because individuals select the message that aligns with their point of view.
• Opinion change is often influenced by family or friendly discussion, not media.
• Theory of agenda shows that perception by the public is based on where their attention in the media.
• Media outlines what is not though but what to start thinking about according to McCombs and shaw.
• Media shapes subject treatments, focusing on how new perspectives are portrayed.
• Bernard Manin describes a shift from the 19th/20th century as party-based democracy to public democracy today.
• Public democracy shows personalization elections, lesser influence from the party, growing electoral choice and increases influence from the media.
• Political partisan stable affiliations is gone the author said.
• Media is now experiencing a shift in Africa where there is an increase new type of media by a digital medium revolution.

Models Explaining Votes

• The vote, an individual or collective matter. There are two ways to voting behavior. Collectives and individual approach.
• There are three kinds of explanations on voting behaviors. The nature effects socioeconomic( religious, social, age…)
• Psychological, sociological: voter choose a selection by way of partisan identification.
• Economical models, voter acts rationally to maximize their preferences.

Ecological Models of Voting

• Ecological models are related to geographic and social variables which helps understand voters’ individual conduct.
• Andre Siegfried, Pioneer of Geographical election “political temperament”.
• Siegfried makes an attempt to use a logical and scientific explanations on voting.
• Siegfried's study examines Political features of western France in voting habits.
• Siegfried uses interviews, historical data and mapping to conduct a field study, and he observes there is a link between political views.
• The voter’s inclination shows “ regional political temperaments”

Geographic Correlation

• A famed summary " granite Vote on the right, Limestone vote on left", the geological votes are illustrated by the map which is the elections
• Granite areas displays distributed habitants and the construction of a company. It creates social order around a priest and nobles and influence decision to right.
• Limestone plain shows aggregated construction and republic inclination in villages.
• Siegel explains there is also a relationship with geographical place that shift people rapports.
• Beyond events, spatial votes shows stableness in time and is almost unmovable

Human Geography

• Discovery that brought order and fantasy. Goethe had laws about hell and so politics also has laws
• Geographical facts is on how humans relate with electorate
• Siegel discovered the option to analyze and bring geographic correlation between electorate.
• Voters are stable and have strong spatial connection.
• Authors of political and social events are skeptic with mono causal explanation.
• Factors morphological; is how structures are geographical, democratically, socially. Soil, habitat, governments.

Explanations of Dependance

• This model of the relationship between politics gives how ownership determines climate. In many ways dependance has an underlying meaning that the citizen would be free as a republic to vote.
• Under political behavior there is the social morphing a sociological that can be very under. The connection is within groups that want there enracinement
• The sieg political table shows explanation shows multiple exception some are dociles others are reclusive this is the social, political group and habitation

Trauma in Historical Context

• Paul Bois critique the perspectives of his work in Les Paysans. Bois blames Siegfried's lack of perspective.
• Paul suggest they cannot limit group social, and how the masses had tradition.
• To find political past it’s necessary to discover trauma in order history
• He must find matrix who have brought on some political structures that has been made through the periods

Election Trauma

• This causes economic event in the region that make people to oppose the society, such as mass conscription
• Civil wars made these types of election and have created division for some time. When traumatic comes this solidifies.
• Collective memory and the rapid change of politic have created models

Psychological Voting

• According to Philippe Braud, shows how political parties focus more on electorate instead of the area.
• It developed more direct question as opposed to before. Example “Who vote for what reason”.
• Columbia show Sociology through preferences in voter’s election and puts stress socio democratic.
• Sociological in books made by Team Paul Lazarfield the People’s choice. A study in Ohio tried to measure camp but only 7 out of electors before campaign stay for after.

Voter Orientations

• voters follows cultural and family, the electoral indices shows family, living place and region show political. Prodestant area votes Republican 3-4 more over democratic with city more often
• The author shows how political think as a society, that society determines it. Voters are made into animal connected in various set. Refortifying those thought but contradiction is the destruction after

Limitations of the Campaign’s Effects

• This is a very important study the how electorate polarized in an election. It is there the most partisan engage during camp. Some people get put into crystal but they only stay in the area where they had interest. Media cause people politic that exists

Relationships and Social Factors

• It’s interaction and conversation amongst people from household family of relationship are more influential when voter. Communication between leaders and groups are essential.

Democracy and voter

• work done Columbia show more vote but also that the voter are not getting influence because it would mean being a democracy.

Elections with Stability

• The approach helps the voter of stability in a way that Columbia shows many types of election. It often has a stay factor with “deviations”

Criticisms

• It is not shown in this society for determinant factor psychology plus not a lot causes factor, it the tunnel is shown to have

Political Models and Paradigm

• Columbia’s study determinant is analyzed by Angus Campbell, Philip Convers, Warren and Stokes. They say vote become a political action when someone have perceive object.
• The view to understand is when someone is light with view it acts as a sensory the allows to see. They also are most susceptible

Actions and Ambitious of Vote

• Authors wanted to put together what happen when people decision and all elements from birth to election. Authors made it the “funnel and placed elements in order and relation.

Understanding Influences

• At the top the structure that effect each other such as familial election. Near end some character the election, candidate, issues. In between are behavior. What cause them to stay in part.

Summary of Key Points

• Not too different from Columba choice. There influence partisan to be an election. The voter shows what his choice it is for, they will show which will effect what he wants. They show social factor and more psychology

Key Studies

• Authors that puts an analyze that determinant and only see meaning election will provide. Election not able show which the one will stay for long a well. There is interest more psych instead of group.

American Voter by Authors

• Authors show them of political identity with partisans. They see that must see an election is by fruit/harvest. As what we learned from Columbia.