The Effect of Social Conformity on Collective Voting Behavior |
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Authors: | Coleman Stephen |
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Affiliation: | Graduate School of Public Administration and Management, Hamline University, MS-A1740, 1536 Hewitt Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 e-mail: scoleman01{at}gw.hamline.edu |
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Abstract: | This article investigates the effect of social conformity onvoting behavior. Past research shows that many people vote toconform with the social norm that voting is a civic duty. Thehypothesis here is that when conformity motivates people tovote, it also stimulates conformist behavior among some voterswhen they decide which party to vote for. This produces a distinctiverelationship between voter turnout and the distribution of votesamong partiesa relationship not anticipated by rationalchoice theory. I test a mathematical model of this behaviorwith linear and nonlinear regression analyses of state-leveldata for presidential elections in the United States from 1904to 1996, longitudinal data on parliamentary elections in WesternEurope over most of the twentieth century, and cross-sectionaldata for recent elections in Western Europe, Eastern Europe,and Russia. The results generally validate the model. |
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