Economic Self-Interest and Political Behavior
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6231026 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stanley Feldman (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1982 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 446 |
| Publication date | 1982-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0092-5853 • E-ISSN: 1540-5907 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2110937 |
| OpenAlex | W2046074210 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 212 |
| References cited | 23 |
The nature of the relationship between personal economic well-being and political behavior has been an object of much theory and research in the social sciences. A growing number of studies of survey data have concluded, however, that there is little or no relationship in the U.S. between financial well-being and political attitudes and behavior. This paper offers an explanation for these findings based on the way people perceive the nature of their financial well-being. The analysis shows that belief in economic individualism leads people to accept personal responsibility for their economic conditions, which in turn eliminates any connection between personal well-being and political evaluation. I discuss the role of political culture and belief in the assessment of self-interest and rationality in political behavior in light of these findings
Biology and political orientation · Economics · Individualism · Object (grammar · Political culture · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Rationality · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology
Reacciones políticas a la economía
Economic Models of Voting
Voting and the Macroeconomy
Self-Interest and Public Interest in Western Politics
White Identity Politics
Attributing Presidential Responsibility for National Economic Problems
The Role of Self-Interest in Social and Political Attitudes
Why Wealthier People Think People Are Wealthier, and Why It Matters
The limited effect of economic self-interest on the political attitudes of the mass public
Economic Models of Voting
Class Attitudes in America
The Politics of Unemployment
Globalization and Mass Politics
A Centripetal Theory of Democratic Governance
Do Voters Understand the Benefits of Taxes?
Perceptions of Foreign Leadership and Alignment Trade-offs
All (economic) politics is local
Governmental Performance, Political Socialization and Parliamentary Support
The Taiwan Voter
Justice in America
The Interplay of News Frames on Cognitive Complexity
The More Things Change…American Identity and Mass and Elite Responses to 9/11
Do Inner-City, African-American Males Exhibit "Bad Attitudes" toward Work
Attitudinal Predictors of Preferred Policy Options
Perceiving Oppression
Pocketbook Voting in U.S. National Election Studies
Regional Divide and National Identity in Taiwan
Feminist identity is associated with positive Covid-19 vaccine behaviors and beliefs
The determinants and political consequences of Latinos' perceived intra-group competition
How Cognitive Frameworks Shape the American Approach to International Relations and Security Studies
Key Determinants of Poles’ Voting Preferences in the 2023 Sejm Elections
The Construction of News
Class, crisis, and political ideology in Canada
Income, Electoral Turnout, and Partisan Voting in Taiwan
Contextual responsiveness in U.S. local government climate policy
Economic Voting and Economic Inequality
Tax Policy Attitudes and the 1996 Presidential Election
Stranger than Fiction
Values, Religiosity and Support for Redistribution and Social Policy in Turkey
Discerning self‐interested behaviour in attitudes towards welfare state responsibilities across Europe
Effective Vote Markets and the Tyranny of Wealth
Pay it Forward? How Target Group and Social Norms Affect Online Bystander Intervention
Economic Attitudes and Political Identities
Taking a Step Back
Republicanism in Mediated Society. A Comparative Analysis on Public and Private Evaluation Guided by the Theory of Symbolic Society
From cohesion to differentiation? The effect of Cohesion Policy on the citizens’ preferences for differentiated integration
The Coingate effect
Who Is Responsible, the Incumbent or the Former President? Motivated Reasoning in Responsibility Attributions
Why Did Clinton Survive the Impeachment Crisis? A Test of Three Explanations
Where Does the Buck Stop? Applying Attribution Theory to Examine Public Appraisals of the President
Does a Growing Income Gap Affect Political Attitudes
In Times of Crisis
The social maximum
A closer look at the relation between tax complexity and tax equity perceptions
Political self-identification and perceptions on tourism
Political Cynicism in South Korea
You and whose economy? Group‐based retrospection in economic voting
The temporal pattern of economic evaluations and vote choice in Senate elections
Economics vs. values in political trust in Korea
Economic Vulnerability and Anti‐Immigrant Attitudes
Symbolic Racism
What's fair is fair--Or is it? Value differences underlying public views about social justice
Exploring the Contextual Determinants of Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants and Criminal Activity and their Spillover Policy Implications
The Political Consequences of Perceived Threat and Felt Insecurity
Blame and contention
When self-interest makes a difference
The Curious Case of Self‐Interest
News Coverage, Economic Cues, and the Public's Presidential Preferences, 1984-1996
Local Unemployment and Voting for President
Conservatism, social isolation and political context
Who’s in Charge? How Voters Attribute Responsibility in the European Union
Who Says “It’s the Economy”? Cross-National and Cross-Individual Variation in the Salience of Economic Performance
The Development of Stable Party Support
An economic offer they cannot refuse! Economic expectations on incumbent government support in Core and periphery European countries
Income, education, and policy priorities
Floating policy voters in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
Pocketbook Voting in India’s 18th Parliamentary Elections (2024)
Self-Interest or Solidarity
Reacciones políticas a la economía
Evidence of Group-Based Economic Voting
The Contamination of Responses to Survey Items
Costly Jobs
The Keynesian and Political Determinants of Unbalanced Budgets
The Impact of Economic Conditions on the Voting Behavior of Blacks
The Collapse of the Democratic Majority
Pathways of Persuasion
How Do Voters Hold Politicians Accountable for Personal Welfare? Evidence of a Self-Serving Bias
Public Opinion Toward Immigration Reform
Context Counts
When the Pound in People’s Pocket Matters
"If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed? If You Tickle Us, Do We Not Laugh?" Jews and Pocketbook Voting
Where Self-Interest Trumps Ideology
My Poor Friend
Making Sense of Isolationism
Institutional Context and the Assignment of Political Responsibility
Elite Economic Forecasts, Economic News, Mass Economic Judgments, and Presidential Approval
Economic Conditions, Causal Attributions, and Political Evaluations in the 1984 Presidential Election
Economic Conditions and Individual Vote in the Federal Republic of Germany
Is the Government to Blame? An Experimental Test of How Partisanship Shapes Perceptions of Performance and Responsibility
Contextualizing Personal Experience
Modern Political Economy
Liberal Tradition in America
An economic theory of democracy
The psychology of interpersonal relations.
Political Control of the Economy
Econometric analyses of electoral behavior
The processes of causal attribution
Explaining Presidential Popularity
The Effect of Aggregate Economic Variables on Congressional Elections
Voter Response to Short-Run Economic Conditions
Short-Term Fluctuations in U.S. Voting Behavior, 1896–1964
Presidents, Prosperity, and Public Opinion
Trend in Personal Finances and the Vote
Perceived Economic Competency and the Ford/Carter Election
Economic Fluctuations and Congressional Elections
What's the Question to That Answer? Measures and Marginals in Crosstabulation
Linear Models for Evaluating Conditional Relationships
Coping
From Life Space to Polling Place
Sociotropic Politics
Affluence and the French Worker in the Fourth Republic
"Whites' Opposition to "Busing
Self-Interest vs. Symbolic Politics in Policy Attitudes and Presidential Voting
| Unique citing works | 212 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,93 |
| Citation span | 1983 - 2026 (44) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 212 |