Contents:
Click to view More Electronic books. Physical Details 1 online resource p. Summary Why do politicians frequently heed the preferences of small groups of citizens over those of the majority? Breaking new theoretical ground, Benjamin Bishin explains how the desires of small groups, which he calls "subconstituencies," often trump the preferences of much larger groups. Demonstrating the wide applicability of his "unified theory of representation," Bishin traces politicians' behavior in connection with a wide range of issues, including the Cuban trade embargo, the extension of hate-crimes legislation to protect gay men and lesbians, the renewal of the assault-weapon.
Notes Description based upon print version of record. Includes bibliographical references p. Contents "Quitemos a castro ahora! While these definitions seem appropriate for the study of organized interests, they overlook the fact that some groups are not formally organized e. Consequently, studies of group behavior overlook an important aspect of political participation: that groups need not be organized to be influential. The subconstituency politics theory holds that politicians overcome the problem of lack of interest among citizens by exploiting the fact that people coalesce through common experiences, outlooks, and interests.
In the political context, politicians do this by making appeals that activate identities that relate to these experiences and thereby energize groups around issues. This view of how representation works relies heavily on the self-categorization theory of social identity e. Importantly, because individuals see some identities as more central to their esteem and identity i. A group forms when an issue that activates an identity in large numbers of people becomes salient.
The activation process is a form of social priming. These characteristics have important implications for politics.
First, they allow the concept of the group to be determined beyond the reach or discretion of the individual. The absence of individual control increases the chance that commonalities can be exploited by outsiders, such as a candidate, to evoke a shared response. Skilled candidates can thus overcome the problem of individual lack of interest by activating the group identities they think will benefit them. Subconstituency politics theory thus defines a group as a constellation of people, either organized or not, who share a social identity owing to a common experience that leads to shared concerns and preferences.
This definition reflects the fact that two individuals can identify as part of the same group even though they have never met. Despite having never met or joined an organization, African Americans from Oregon and Florida, for instance, may hold identical and intense preferences on civil-rights issues owing to a shared experience of racism. Importantly, this definition does not exclude those who belong to well-organized groups, as long as members meet these criteria.
On many issues, groups consist of those who are members of a formal organization, as well as those who hold similar attitudes based on shared experiences but who have neither joined a group nor interacted with others. By this definition, the existence of a group necessarily means that there is a shared social identity.
However, that identity may not always result in shared views that are politically useful. For instance, veterans share a general experience of having served in the armed forces of the United States. And they seem to share preferences on a wide variety of topics. Recent work shows, however, that they do not seem to have shared political preferences Bishin and Incantalupo For political purposes, veterans are often latent.
Ultimately, the degree to which groups share views on an issue is an empirical question. Individuals act based on their active, often apolitical, identities which are usually primed by non-political actors and events.
In this process, the individual who is the object of classification is depersonalized in the sense that he is evaluated based on the degree to which his group-related attributes conform to those of the prototype. Thus, one effective strategy for politicians who seek to appeal to groups is to classify their opponents as different from the groups to whom they are trying to appeal.
Politicians try to make beneficial identities salient. By recognizing that skilled politicians can activate latent identities by raising relevant issues to create or activate new groups, this definition of group goes beyond the specific cases of issue publics and interest groups, which refer to active and generally longstanding associations, to provide a more general explanation of why groups are so powerful.
Moreover, it is useful to note that skillful politicians raise issues designed to highlight what people have in common.
Tyranny of the Minority: The Subconstituency Politics Theory of Representation [ Benjamin Bishin] on giuliettasprint.konfer.eu *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Why do . Tyranny of the Minority: The Subconstituency Politics Theory of Representation - Kindle edition by Benjamin Bishin. Download it once and read it on your Kindle.
While it shares some similarities, this definition of the group differs substantially from the concept of issue publics Converse This link is important for subconstituency politics because it is the socialization that leads to intensity on the issue. Moreover, issue publics refer to all persons with an interest in a particular issue, not just those with a particular view on the issue. In marked contrast to the perspective offered here, on contentious issues, issue publics include groups that both support and oppose a given issue position.
The definition of groups employed by subconstituency politics also allows for recognition of the fact that the role and meaning of the concept of the group has different implications for individuals than for candidates. These need not be tangible, as identification with a group has been shown to enhance esteem, to reduce uncertainty in making evaluations, and to help to balance between the desires of sameness and uniqueness Hogg On some issues, group membership, such as party identification, may thus provide a heuristic shortcut.
More recently, scholars have shown that party is more than an affiliation; it is a social identity that appears to be constructed through these experiences, a fact that explains its stability over time Green et al. Party is an especially valuable exemplar of subconstituency politics, as candidates regularly make explicitly partisan appeals at least partly to exploit identifiers reliance on party as a heuristic.
Moreover, it illustrates the point that one may have a social identification without being a member of a formal group, as when political scientists find that independents who reject formal membership often behave more like partisans than do selfidentified party members e. This point further illustrates the distinction between the individual and the conception of the group.
The last few months have seen an increased interest in the civil rights of members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered community. Focusing on groups helps overcome this problem in two ways. In some districts, no meaningful opinion exists on many issues, but on other issues, opinion is intense. Other districts are characterized by high levels of opinion diversity on some issues and perfect homogeneity on others. When do legislators defy popular sovereignty? Sign in.
For example, among Cubans who immigrated after , the experience of the Mariel boat lift and, for many, internment at Guantanamo Bay, shapes their outlook on issues relating to Cuba. These shared experiences give candidates an opportunity to develop policies, such as relaxing travel restrictions for those with relatives in Cuba, that exploit the social identities that stem from the shared experiences and, as in our example, thereby activate the support of these immigrants.
Social Identity and Social Context: The Role of the Individual A particularly important aspect of social identity is that individuals have multiple group identities that stem from their categorizations, roles, and experiences. Alternatively, lacking a relevant context, many identities never become salient. Consequently, it is not surprising that social psychologists find that the link between attitudes and behavior are strengthened when the relevant group membership and norms are salient Terry et al.
The importance of particular identities to an individual varies depending on social context e. Events may lead individuals to subordinate the importance of one issue and raise the prominence of another in the face of events that activate another identity. In this way, an exogenous shock may temporarily supplant primary issues and lead to a change in active identities. After the terrorist acts of September 11, , for instance, the major political parties put aside their issue differences, as a nationalist American identity was activated Huddy et al.
Absent other attacks, the salience of September 11 will either diminish with time or be superseded if events occur that activate alternative identities, such as economic hardship, for instance, that at least temporarily supersede the previously active identity. For candidates, two implications pertaining to individual behavior are especially important. First, as noted, individuals may share attitudes or predispositions on the basis of some common characteristic or shared experience, despite the absence of formal group organization, personal interaction, or interpersonal dependence or attraction Turner et al.
Neither a membership card nor an organizational hierarchy is needed for individuals with common identities to become politically active in response to visible issues. Reagan Democrats and soccer moms are two examples of groups that lack formal organization, membership, and interaction, but their shared socializing experiences lead to shared attitudes.
Specifically, they try to take positions that will appeal to existing group identities or activate latent ones, in which case the individual may not even recognize that he is a member. The idea that individuals have multiple social identities, some of which are latent, raises an important question about the limits of group membership. For instance, while two Cuban immigrants may share a Cuban group identity, different socializing experiences pertaining to when they immigrated and their experience with the Castro regime leads to association with different groups when issues that expose this distinction become salient.
The manner through which group association maps from identity to political preferences can be illustrated through a hypothetical example. Since group associations are a function of personal identity, even the politically uninterested have latent group associations. If the social context does not make the identity salient, however, an individual may not think of an association for long periods of time, if ever Turner et al. A stylized mapping of group associations illustrating these distinctions appears in Figure 2.
The shaded area in the figure reflects the overlapping associations of a Cuban American Republican man who immigrated in the Mariel boat lift. A particular identity is activated when something occurs that leads a person to rely on it when interpreting or evaluating events. Since both the identity activated and the strength of the activated identity may vary, association with a particular identity related to a group is highly variable.
The intensity of group associations based on these identifications depends in large part on the degree to which the individual sees the issue as important or relevant e. Here, differences in group identity led to widely divergent opinions among a population that is often assumed to be monolithic.
Recall that Annie Betancourt attempted to capitalize on a shift in Cuban American opinion fostered by an increase in recent immigrants who hold more liberal opinions about Cuban policy. By , 35 percent of Cuban Americans who had immigrated prior to supported repealing the embargo, while 61 percent of those who immigrated after , an approximately equally large population, supported the same position. Recall that members of the first wave of Cuban immigrants were political refugees; for many, Castro seized their assets and imprisoned or executed their relatives.
The second wave consists largely of economic refugees. One indicator of the relative intensity of these groups is seen in their rates of political participation. Among those who are eligible, about 86 percent of the older group pre is registered to vote, while only 22 percent of the newer group post is registered.
Hence, differences in group identity have broad political implications even among people who have a great deal in common. How Voters Behave The role and motivation of the individual in subconstituency politics theory relies on several assumptions that are supported by extensive research in psychology and voter behavior. First, and perhaps most important, individuals are more knowledgeable on issues about which they are intense and active than on issues in general e. Research demonstrating that citizens are more knowledgeable on issues that are important to them provides an important mechanism underlying the theory e.
Clearly, a citizenry that demonstrates interest in an issue—or, at least, a willingness to become interested and active—is a citizenry with which candidates must reckon. Studies show, however, that few citizens have levels of political knowledge or interest high enough to constrain the elected Converse ; Delli Carpini and Keeter Candidates must pay attention to these groups because, unlike the district as a whole, even if the groups are not watching, they are more easily mobilized if the candidates misstep Arnold , A wide range of research shows that people seldom vote on the basis of narrow self-interest see Sears and Lau for an overview.
Candidates who make symbolic attitudes salient can evoke underlying political predispositions. While subconstituency politics holds that identities continue to be formed as one ages, the process underlying the symbolic politics thesis is consistent with subconstituency politics. Consider that the development of self-interest comes from experiences that may well contribute to the creation of social identities.
Irrespective of the cause, the rejection of self-interest as a motive for a wide range of behavior provides additional, albeit indirect, evidence for the subconstituency politics theory. As we have seen, subconstituency politics holds that candidates who are best able to activate intense groups are the most likely to be successful.