Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:01:35.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Prospecting for Participants: Rational Expectations and the Recruitment of Political Activists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Henry E. Brady
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Kay Lehman Schlozman
Affiliation:
Boston College
Sidney Verba
Affiliation:
Harvard University

Abstract

A survey of the American public is used to model citizen political recruitment as a two-stage process. First, those who recruit others to become active in politics seek likely activists through “rational prospecting.” Second, they seek acquiescence to their requests. We model each part of the process, delineating the characteristics of individuals that make them attractive prospects and that make them likely to say “yes.” Recruiters who have information about, and leverage over, their targets are more likely to be successful. In seeking out people who would be likely not only to participate but also to participate effectively, rational prospectors select people with characteristics that are already overrepresented among participants. The net result of the recruitment process for political activity in general—and for financial contributions, in particular—is to exacerbate participatory stratification.

Type
Research Notes
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1999

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

Books and Periodicals

Achen, Christopher. 1986. The Statistical Analysis of Quasi-Experiments. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aldrich, John. 1983a. “A Spatial Model of Party Activists.” Public Choice 41(Spring):63100.Google Scholar
Aldrich, John. 1983b. “A Downsian Spatial Model with Party Activism.” American Political Science Review 77(12): 974–90.Google Scholar
Attfield, Clifford L. F., Demery, David, and Duck, N. W.. 1991. Rational Expectations in Economics. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, Samuel, Kaase, Max, and Allerbeck, Klaus R., Farah, Barbara G., Heunks, Felix, Inglehart, Ronald, Jennings, M. Kent, Klingemann, Hans D., Marsh, Alan, and Rosenmayr, Leopold. 1979. Political Action: Mass Participation in Five Western Democracies. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Earl, Bennett Stephen, and Bennett, Linda L. M.. 1986. “Political Participation: Meaning and Measurement.” In Annual Review of Political Science, ed. Long, Samuel. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Pp. 157204.Google Scholar
Boyte, Harry C. 1980. The Backyard Revolution. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Brennan, Geoffrey, and Lomasky, Loren. 1993. Democracy and Decision: The Pure Theory of Electoral Preference. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Browne, William P. 1988. Private Interests, Public Policy, and American Agriculture. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.Google Scholar
Cohen, Cathy J., and Dawson, Michael C.. 1993. “Neighborhood Poverty and African American Politics.” American Political Science Review 87(06):286302.Google Scholar
Conway, M. Margaret. 1991. Political Participation in the United States, 2d ed. Washington, DC: CQ Press.Google Scholar
Eldersveld, Samuel. 1964. Political Parties: A Behavioral Analysis. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Freeman, Jo. 1983. Social Movements of the Sixties and Seventies. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Godwin, R. Kenneth. 1988. One Billion Dollars of Influence: The Direct Marketing of Politics. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Gosnell, Harold F. 1927. Getting Out the Vote. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert, and Sprague, John. 1992. “Political Parties and Electoral Mobilization: Political Structure, Social Structure, and the Party Canvass.” American Political Science Review 86(03): 7086.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huckfeldt, Robert, and Sprague, John. 1993. “Citizens, Contexts, and Politics.” In Political Science: The State of the Discipline, ed. Finifter, Ada W.. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association. Pp. 281303.Google Scholar
Knoke, David. 1990. “Networks of Political Action: Toward Theory Construction.” Social Forces 68(06):1041–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luker, Kristin. 1984. Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
McAdam, Doug. 1982. Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Lester W., and Goel, M. L.. 1977. Political Participation: How and Why Do People Get Involved in Politics? 2d ed. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Morris, Aldon D. 1984. The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Nie, Norman, Junn, Jane, and Stehlik-Berry, Kenneth. 1996. Education and Citizenship in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Oberschall, Anthony. 1973. Social Conflict and Social Movements. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Piven, Frances Fox, and Cloward, Richard A.. 1977. Poor People's Movements. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J., and Hansen, John Mark. 1993. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, Lawrence. 1992. Linking Citizens to Government. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Tierney, John T.. 1986. Organized Interests in American Democracy. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, Verba, Sidney, and Brady, Henry E.. 1995. “Participation's Not a Paradox: The View from American Activists.” British Journal of Political Science 25(01):136.Google Scholar
Sheffrin, Steven M. 1983. Rational Expectations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tarrow, Sidney. 1994. Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action, and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman H.. 1972. Participation in America. New York: Harper Row.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Nie, Norman H., and Kim, Jae-on. 1978. Participation and Political Equality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Brady, Henry E.. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism and American Politics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Walker, Jack L. 1991. Mobilizing Interest Groups in America. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wielhouwer, Peter W., and Lockerbie, Brad. 1994. “Party Contacting and Political Participation: 1952–1990.” American Journal of Political Science 38(02):211–33.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay Lehman, Brady, Henry E., and Nie, Norman. 1990. American Citizen Participation Study, 1990 [computer file] (Study #6635). ICPSR version. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, National Opinion Research Center (NORC) [producer], 1995. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1995.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.