Why do only some people who support parties actually join them? Evidence from Britain

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6408029
AutoresMonica Poletti (0000-0003-0785-0254, Queen Mary University of London, autor de correspondencia), Paul Webb (0000-0002-4118-8973, University of Sussex, Freeman Centre, Brighton, UK), Paul D Webb (0000-0003-3458-000X, University of Sussex), Tim Bale (0000-0001-5917-1312, Queen Mary University of London)
Año2019
Volumen42
Número1
Páginas156-172
Fecha de publicación2019-01-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWest European Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01402382.2018.1479921
OpenAlexW2898488431
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas31
Referencias citadas17

What makes people join a political party is one of the most commonly studied questions in research on party members. Nearly all this research, however, is based on talking to people who have actually joined parties. This article simultaneously analyses surveys of members of political parties in Britain and surveys of non-member supporters of those same parties. This uniquely enables us to model the decision to join parties. The results suggest that most of the elements that constitute the influential 'General Incentives Model' are significant. But it also reveals that, while party supporters imagine that selective benefits, social norms and opposing rival parties' policies are key factors in members' decisions to join a party, those who actually do so are more likely to say they are motivated by attachments to their party's values, policies and leaders, as well as by an altruistic desire to support democracy more generally

Democracy · Economics · Incentive · Join (topology · Key (lock · Microeconomics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies