Full Citation

Title: Electoral participation and identity. Application of the identity economy model to the decision to vote

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN:

DOI:

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: Can the electoral participation behavior of a group with a common ethnic denominator be explained by the choice of identity? How is participation in elections influenced by participation in the labor market, also plausible to be explained by an identity choice? We present an original bivariate model of cognitive adaptation to examine the decision to register for elections in the United States, where individuals experience tension between their own preferences and social pressure from members of their ethnic group. The decision to participate or self-exclude from the labor market is applied, along with the political decision as a second identity decision that conditions the cost that the lack of coherence between decisions can generate. What is at stake for the individual is to be exposed to the gaze of the other as someone who is indolent towards his or her group, a situation that generates a social return in the form of loss of utility due to identity if he or she decides not to register. We offer evidence that social pressure results in greater participation in elections for most of the groups studied, as argued by Jang (2009), and that this social pressure is greater for those minority males who experience workplace discrimination, such as African Americans, the aboriginals and, to a lesser extent, the Hispanics. Improving understanding of the impact of the other's gaze, this work allows us to evaluate the extent to which identification with the ethnic group to which one belongs influences and explains the differences in the political participation of minorities.

Url: http://www.economiaypolitica.cl/index.php/eyp/article/view/224

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Trepat, Ricardo

Periodical (Full): Economía y Política

Issue: 2

Volume: 10

Pages: 129-167

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Education, Race and Ethnicity

Countries: