American Political Science Review· 2015Q1
Expressive Partisanship: Campaign Involvement, Political Emotion, and Partisan Identity
- 1,407citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2015year
Short summary
Partisan identity, driven by social identity theory, is a stronger predictor of campaign involvement than policy stances or ideological consistency, with strongly identified partisans showing greater emotional responses (anger, enthusiasm) to electoral threats and reassurances.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Partisan identity, framed by social identity theory, is a more powerful driver of campaign involvement than instrumental factors like policy positions.
- Strongly identified partisans exhibit greater emotional arousal (anger, enthusiasm) in response to electoral threats and reassurances compared to weaker partisans or those with strong policy stances.
- Threats to a party's status generate stronger emotional reactions among partisans than threats related to specific policy issues.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Party identification is central to the study of American political behavior, yet there remains disagreement over whether it is largely instrumental or expressive in nature. We draw on social identity theory to develop the expressive model and conduct four studies to compare it to an instrumental explanation of campaign involvement. We find strong support for the expressive model: a multi-item partisan identity scale better accounts for campaign activity than a strong stance on subjectively important policy issues, the strength of ideological self-placement, or a measure of ideological identity. A series of experiments underscore the power of partisan identity to generate action-oriented emotions that drive campaign activity. Strongly identified partisans feel angrier than weaker partisans when threatened with electoral loss and more positive when reassured of victory. In contrast, those who hold a strong and ideologically consistent position on issues are no more aroused emotionally than others by party threats or reassurances. In addition, threat and reassurance to the party's status arouse greater anger and enthusiasm among partisans than does a threatened loss or victory on central policy issues. Our findings underscore the power of an expressive partisan identity to drive campaign involvement and generate strong emotional reactions to ongoing campaign events.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. American Political Science Review, 2015 · DOI ↗
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Field: Political Science and International Relations
Political Science and International RelationsSocial Sciences