Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
Studies of political machines in American cities have typically been concerned with voting patterns that have allowed machines to control municipal governments and with the mechanisms of machines themselves, which keep political operatives active in city precincts. The presence of ‘material incentives', defined as tangible rewards in the form of city jobs, business opportunities, easements from city regulations, and gifts, is the factor most commonly understood to account for both voter support for machines and for the motivation to participate in the work of machine politics.