Choice, Social Structure, and Political Information
The Information Coercion of Minorities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6232541 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Huckfeldt, John Sprague |
| Year | 1988 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 467 |
| Publication date | 1988-05-01 |
| 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 | 10.2307/2111132 |
| OpenAlex | W2328864139 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 64 |
| References cited | 11 |
This study examines the effects of individual political preference, and the distribution of such preferences, upon the choice of political discussion partners. The data base for the study combines a 1984 election survey of citizens in South Bend, Indiana, with a subsequent survey of people with whom these citizens discuss politics. Special attention is given to the consequences attendant on minority and majority preference distributions in the local social milieu. Reagan and Mondale voters are shown to respond similarly to political support from the social context, and observed differences in political behavior for these two groups are shown to be the consequence of differential distributions, in local social contexts, of Reagan and Mondale supporters. Rational voters exhibit rational information search behavior, but political choice emerges in the analysis as a compromise between individual political preference and socially structured discussion opportunity. Citizens in a democracy exercise free choice when they obtain political information. They avoid some information sources, and they seek out others based upon their own political preferences and viewpoints. Indeed, the availability of informational alternatives is one of the defining characteristics of democratic politics. Liberals are free to read liberal newspapers, and conservatives are free to read conservative newspapers. More important for this analysis, Democrats are free to seek out other Democrats as political discussion partners, and Republicans are free to seek out other Republicans. While this sort of free informational choice is central to democracy, it is also constrained by social structure. Free choice operates within opportunities and constraints that are imposed by the social context, and the central issues pursued here are two. First, how is informational choice circumscribed by the structurally determined opportunities for social interaction, interaction which carries political content? Second, what are the consequences for majority and minority political preferences
Compromise · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Economics · Microeconomics · Newspaper · Political communication · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Preference · Public opinion · Social choice theory · Sociology · Voting · Voting behavior · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
Social Interaction and Contextual Influences On Political Participation
Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945
“Carrying Online Participation Offline”-Mobilization by Radical Online Groups and Politically Dissimilar Offline Ties
The Social Context of Religious Integration and Suicide
Religious Market Share and Intensity of Church Involvement in Five Denominations
Have American's Social Attitudes Become More Polarized
Networks, Interdependence, and Social Influence in Politics
Important Matters in Political Context
Latinos’ Knowledge of the Supreme Court
Typing Together? Clustering of Ideological Types in Online Social Networks
Political Conflict and Public Perceptions of Government Surveillance on the Internet
Christian Right Horticulture
What wakes the sleeping giant? The effect of state context on Latino voter turnout in the 2004 election
Don’t talk to me’
Does religion remain an influence on political participation in an increasingly secular society? An empirical investigation of the Australian case
Short-Haul Moves and the Political Geography of Partisanship
The Democratic Contribution of Weakly Tied Political Networks
Informal Networked Deliberation
Cleavage Formation in Norway
Political contexts and new electorates
Right-wing Radical Populism in City and Suburbs
Support for democracy in ego‐centered social contexts
Development of attitude strength over the life cycle
Demography, Police Behavior, and Deterrence
Social Structure and Citizenship
Experimental implications for the Spiral of Silence
The co‐evolution of individual and network
The fight for ‘how to think
Name generation in interpersonal political network data
Accuracy Motivations, Predispositions, and Social Information in Political Discussion Networks
Mass Dynamics of U.S. Presidential Competitions, 1928–1936
The Impact of Cross-Racial Voting on St. Louis Primary Election Results
The Microenvironment of Attitude Change
Discussant Effects on Vote Choice
Enhancing Civic Engagement
Bringing Strong Ties Back in Interpersonal Gateways to Political Information and Influence
The Social Context of Voter Turnout
Size Matters
Young Citizens’ Party Support
The Ties that Bind Us
Unraveling the Effects of the Internet on Political Participation
Social Networks and Political Participation
Networks, Contexts, and the Combinatorial Dynamics of Democratic Politics
The Benefits of Experimental Methods for the Study of Campaign Effects
Determinants of coattail voting
Political Disagreement in Context
Explaining Contextual Effects on Vote Choice
Direction Versus Proximity in the Social Influence Process
Fear and Loathing in California
Place matters
Anchoring Political Preferences
Voter ignorance and the democratic ideal
Disagreeing about Disagreement
Political Participation and Effects from the Social Environment
Strength in Numbers
Government Monitoring and Political Participation in the United States
Causality in Political Networks
What Do They Know and How Do They Know It
Crime, policing and the perception of neighborhood safety
Political Talk and Voting
Bridging and Bonding Ethnic Ties in Voluntary Organisations
The Political Consequences of Intolerance
Networks in Context
Interpersonal and mass media communication
Bonds of pluralism
Introduction to Mathematical Sociology
Micromotives and macrobehavior
An economic theory of democracy
The spiral of silence
Youth and Political Change
Primary Group Influence on Party Loyalty
One-Party Politics and the Voter
Networks in Context
Contextual Analysis Revisited
Social Contexts, Social Networks, and Urban Neighborhoods
| Unique citing works | 64 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,64 |
| Citation span | 1987 - 2025 (39) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 64 |