Viral Voting
Social Networks and Political Participation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12802471 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicholas Eubank (0000-0001-5159-4740, corresponding author), G Grossman (0000-0002-6980-6390), Melina R Platas (0000-0002-5503-1029), Judith Rodden (0000-0003-1449-8527) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 265-284 |
| Publication date | 2021-07-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Quarterly Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1554-0626 • E-ISSN: 1554-0634 |
| Publisher | Now Publishers (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1561/100.00019092 |
| OpenAlex | W3181394313 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 14 |
Social context theory suggests that an important driver of political participation is the behavior of family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. How do social ties between individuals shape equilibrium behavior in larger populations? Despite theoretical inroads into this question, direct empirical tests remain scarce due to data limitations. We fill this gap using full social network data from 15 villages in rural Uganda, where village-level turnout is the outcome of interest. We find that levels of participation predicted by structural features of village networks are strongly associated with actual village-level turnout in low-salience local elections, and weakly associated in high-salience presidential elections. We also find that these features predict other forms of political participation, including attending village meetings and contributing to village projects. In addition to demonstrating that networks help explain political participation, we provide evidence that the mechanism of influence is that proposed by social context theory rather than alternative mechanisms like the presence of central brokers or the ability of networks to diffuse information
Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Voting · Voting behavior · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Media and Politics
Opinion Leadership in Rural America
Vernacular Architecture and Grassroots Urban Politics
Mobilization Without Organization
Local context and mobilization in poor communities
Channels for Influence or Maps of Behavior? A Field Experiment on Social Networks and Cooperation
Social Network Structures and the Politics of Public Goods Provision
Impact of class configuration on political participation
Do grids demobilize? How street networks, social networks, and political networks intersect
Who Registers? Village Networks, Household Dynamics, and Voter Registration in Rural Uganda
Bound by Borders
From Chatter to Action
Reducing Prejudice toward Refugees
Voter Turnout
The Social Citizen
Social Network Analysis
Politician Family Networks and Electoral Outcomes
Why the West Became Wild
Social Networks and Political Participation
Social Networks and Protest Participation
Social Networks and Collective Action
It Takes a Village
What Makes a Good Neighbor? Race, Place, and Norms of Political Participation
Social Pressure and Voter Turnout
The Social Origins of Networks and Diffusion
Complex Contagions and the Weakness of Long Ties
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |