Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T09:58:59.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Organizational Roots of Political Activism: Field Experiments on Creating a Relational Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2016

HAHRIE HAN
HAHRIE HAN*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Barbara
*
Hahrie Han is Anton Vonk Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (hahrie@polsci.ucsb.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the role that democratic organizations play in fostering political activism in America. Activists make democracy work by attending meetings, engaging others, trying to make their voice heard, and participating in myriad other ways. Yet, we still need a deeper understanding of what role organizations play in cultivating that activism. The article presents data from three field experiments showing that creating a relational organizational context makes targets more likely to sign petitions, recruit others, and attend meetings. The article argues that civic organizations can have a powerful impact on activism. In doing so, it introduces a new set of variables related to organizational context to consider in understanding the sources of participation. The article thus extends a burgeoning body of experimental research on the social bases of voter turnout by examining not only voting but other forms of activism that are increasingly common modes of citizen involvement in the twenty-first century.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 110 , Issue 2 , May 2016 , pp. 296 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Andrews, Kenneth T., and Edwards, Bob. 2004. “Advocacy Organizations in the U.S. Political Process.” Annual Review of Sociology 30: 479–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, Kenneth T., Ganz, Marshall, Baggetta, Matthew, Han, Hahrie, and Lim, Chaeyoon. 2010. “Leadership, Membership, and Voice: Civic Associations That Work.” American Journal of Sociology 115: 1191–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arceneaux, Kevin, and Nickerson, David. 2009. “Who Is Mobilized to Vote? A Re-Analysis of 11 Field Experiments.” American Journal of Political Science 53: 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aronow, Peter, and Samii, Cyrus. 2012. “Ri: R Package for Performing Randomization-Based Inference for Experiments.”Google Scholar
Baggetta, Matthew, Han, Hahrie, and Andrews, Kenneth T.. 2013. “Leading Associations: How Individual Characteristics and Team Dynamics Generate Committed Leaders.” American Sociological Review 78: 544–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barakso, Maryann. 2004. Governing Now: Grassroots Activism in the National Organization for Women. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin R. 2003. Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age. 20th Anniversary edition with a new preface. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Baumeister, Roy F., and Leary, Mark R.. 1995. “The Need to Belong: Desire for Interpersonal Attachments as a Fundamental Human Motivation.” Psychological Bulletin 117: 497–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baumgartner, Frank, Berry, Jeffrey M., Hojnacki, Marie, Kimball, David C., and Leech, Beth L.. 2009. Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bedolla, Lisa Garcia, and Michelson, Melissa R.. 2012. Mobilizing Inclusion: Transforming the Electorate through Get-out-the-Vote Campaigns. New Haven: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bimber, Bruce. 2003. Information and American Democracy: Technology in the Evolution of Political Power. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bimber, Bruce, Flanagin, Andrew, and Stohl, Cynthia. 2012. Collective Action in Organizations: Interaction and Engagement in an Era of Technological Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, Robert M., Fariss, Christopher J., Jones, Jason J., Kramer, Adam D. I., Marlow, Cameron, Settle, Jaime E., and Fowler, James H.. 2012. “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization.” Nature (London) 489: 295–98.Google Scholar
Cialdini, Robert B., and Goldstein, Noah J.. 2004. “Social Influence: Compliance and Conformity.” Annual Review of Psychology 55: 591–621.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, Margaret S., and Lemay, Edward P.. 2010. “Close Relationships.” In Handbook of Social Psychology, eds. Fiske, Susan T., Gilbert, Daniel T., and Lindzey, Gardner. Vol. 2. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 898–940.Google Scholar
Dalton, Russell. 2009. The Good Citizen: How the Young Are Transforming American Politics. Revised ed. Washington DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Fung, Archon. 2003. “Associations and Democracy: Between Theories, Hopes, and Realities.” Annual Review of Sociology 29: 515–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganz, Marshall. 2004. “Why David Someties Wins.” In The Psychology of Leadership: New Perspectives and Research, eds. Messick, David M. and Kramer, Roderick M.. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Ganz, Marshall. 2009. Why David Sometimes Wins: Leadership, Strategy and the Organization in the California Farm Worker Movement. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, Alan, and Green, Donald. 2012. Field Experiments: Design, Analysis, and Interpretation. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Gerber, Alan, Green, Donald, and Larimer, Christopher. 2008. “Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment.” American Political Science Review 102: 33–48.Google Scholar
Green, Donald, and Gerber, Alan. 2008. Get out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Hackman, Richard. 2002. Leading Teams: Setting the State for Great Performances. New York: Harvard Business School.Google Scholar
Han, Hahrie. 2014. How Organizations Develop Activists: Civic Associations and Leadership in the 21st Century. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, Hahrie. 2009. Moved to Action: Motivation, Participation, and Inequality in American Politics. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Karpf, David. 2012. The Moveon Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klandermans, Bert. 2007. “The Demand and Supply of Participation: Social-Psychological Correlates of Participation in Social Movements.” In The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, eds. Snow, David A., Soule, Sarah A., and Kriesi, Hanspeter. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 360–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, Howard J., Becker, Thomas E., and Meyer, John P., eds. 2009. Commitment in Organizations: Accumulated Wisdom and New Directions. New York: Routledge Academic.Google Scholar
Knoke, David. 1981. “Commitment and Detachment in Voluntary Associations.” American Sociological Review 46: 141–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoke, David. 1988. “Incentives in Collective Action Organizations.” American Sociological Review 53: 311–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knoke, David. 1990. Organizing for Collective Action: The Political Economies of Associations. Edited by Rossi, Peter H., Useem, Michael, and Wright, James D., Social Institutions and Social Change. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Leary, Mark R. 2010. “Affiliation, Acceptance, and Belonging: The Pursuit of Interpersonal Connection.” In Handbook of Social Psychology, eds. Fiske, Susan T., Gilbert, Daniel T., and Lindzey, Gardner. Vol. 2. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 864–987.Google Scholar
Leary, Mark R. 1995. Self Presentation: Impression Management and Interpersonal Behavior. Boulder, CO: Westview.Google Scholar
Marcus, George E. 2002. The Sentimental Citizen: Emotion in Democratic Politics. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 1988. Freedom Summer. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mehrabian, A. 1969. “Significance of Posture and Position in the Communication of Attitude and Status Relationships.” Psychological Bulletin 71: 359–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Joanne M. 2005. “Why Do Individuals Participate in Politics?” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.Google Scholar
Miller, L.C., Berg, J. H., and Archer, R.L.. 1983. “Openers: Individuals Who Elicit Intimate Self-Disclosure.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 44: 1234–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munson, Ziad. 2009. The Making of Pro-Life Activists: How Social Movement Mobilization Works. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Nickerson, David. 2008. “Is Voting Contagious? Evidence from Two Field Experiments.” American Political Science Review 102: 49– 57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, Martha C. 2001. Upheavals of Thought, the Intelligence of Emotions. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Orum, Anthony, and Dale, John. 2009. Political Sociology, Power and Participation in the Modern World, Anthony Orum and John Dale (5th Ed), 2009, Oxford University Press. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Oser, Jennifer, Leighley, Jan E., and Winneg, Kenneth M.. 2014. “Types of Political Participators and Their Policy Preferences in an Era of Offline and Online Political Participation.” Social Science Quarterly 95: 1259–77.Google Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polletta, Francesca, and Jasper, James M.. 2001. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology 27: 283– 305.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert. 2001. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Democracy. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Reis, H. T., Clark, M. S., and Holmes, J. G.. 2004. “Perceived Partner Responsiveness as an Organizing Construct in the Study of Intimacy and Closeness.” In Handbook of Closeness and Intimacy, eds. Mashek, D. J. and Aron, A. P.. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 201–25.Google Scholar
Rogers, Todd, Gerber, Alan S., and Fox, Craig R.. 2012. “Rethinking Why People Vote: Voting as Dynamic Social Expression.” In Behavioral Foundations of Policy, ed. Shafir, Eldar. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 91–107.Google Scholar
Rolfe, Meredith. 2012. Voter Turnout: A Social Theory of Political Participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J., and Hansen, John Mark. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence S. 1992. Linking Citizens to Government: Interest Group Poiltics at Common Cause. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schier, Steven. 2000. By Invitation Only: The Rise of Exclusive Politics in the United States. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 2003. “Citizen Participation in America: What Do We Know? Why Do We Care?” In Political Science, State of the Discipline, eds. Katznelson, Ira and Milner, Helen. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 433–61.Google Scholar
Sinclair, Betsy. 2012. The Social Citizen: Peer Networks and Political Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 2003. Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Smock, Kristina. 2004. Democracy in Action: Community Organizing and Urban Change. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Snow, David A., and Benford, Robert D.. 1988. “Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization.” International Social Movement Research 1: 197–217.Google Scholar
Snow, David, and Soule, Sarah. 2010. A Primer on Social Movements. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Thomas, Emma F., McGarty, Craig, and Mavor, Kenneth I.. 2009. “Aligning Identities, Emotions, and Beliefs to Create Commitment to Sustainable Social and Political Action.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 13: 194–218.Google ScholarPubMed
Tocqueville, Alexis de. [1835–40] 1969. Democracy in America. New York City: Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Tufekci, Zeynep. 2014. “Capabilities of Movements and Affordances of Digital Media: Paradoxes of Empowerment.” dmlcentral.net: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.Google Scholar
US Department of Commerce, Census Bureau. 2009. “Current Population Survey (2008–09).” http://www.census.gov/cps/.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney. 2003. “Would the Dream of Political Equality Turn out to Be a Nightmare?”. Perspectives on Politics 1: 663–79.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Brady, Henry. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, Mark. 2001. Dry Bones Rattling: Community Building to Revitalize American Democracy, Princeton Studies in American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, K.D. 2001. Ostracism: The Power of Silence. New York: Guilford Publications.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. 1973. Political Organizations. New York: Basic Books, Inc. Google Scholar
Zomeren, Martijn van, Postmes, Tom, and Spears, Russell. 2008. “Toward an Integrative Social Identity Model of Collective Action: A Quantitative Research Synthesis of Three Socio-Psychological Perspectives.” Psychological Bulletin 134: 504–35.Google Scholar
Zuckerman, Alan S. 2005. The Social Logic of Politics, Personal Networks as Contexts for Political Behavior. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Zukin, Cliff, Keeter, Scott, Andolina, Molly, and Jenkins, Krista. 2006. A New Engagement?: Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar