Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Manza, J.
Right arrow Articles by Brooks, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

European Sociological Review 15:369-389 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press

research-article

Group Size, Turnout, and Political Alignments and the Development of U.S. Party Coalitions,1960–1992

Jeff Manza and Clem Brooks

Department of Sociology, Northwestern University 1810 Chicago Ave, Evanston, Ill., USA; email:Manza{at}nwu.edu.
Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington IN, USA; email:cbrooks{at}indiana.edu.

We propose an approach for analysing trends in the contributions of social groups to electoral coalitions, and apply this approach to an analysis of the impact of changes in the race, religion, class, and gender cleavages on coalitions in U.S. Presidential elections between 1960 and 1992. We improve on existing studies of party coalitions by developing a multivariate model that measures group-specific political alignments while also correcting for changes in group size and turnout rates. Our analyses show that there have been significant changes in the contributions of different social groups to major party coalitions: the Democrats now receive more votes from professionals (and to a lesser extent, managers), blacks, and non-religious persons, and fewer votes from working-class voters; the Republican coalition has gained among managers (and to a lesser extent, professionals), while losing out significantly among liberal Protestants, blacks, and non-working voters. The analyses provide evidence of a slight convergence amidst a larger pattern of enduring group-based differences within the Democratic and Republican coalitions. The approach developed here can readily be extended to study electoral coalitions in other national contexts.

Manuscript received: June 1, 1998.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.