Voličské správanie
Voting Behaviour

Summary/Abstract: Voting Behaviour. Voting behaviour belongs to classic topics of political sociology. The paper deals with the history of its research and the most influential theoretical models. The research of voting behaviour began in the 19th century - by journalist surveys in American presidential elections. A more rigorous research of voting behaviour started in 1935 when George Gallup established American Public Opinion Research Institute. Strictly scientific approach to the voting behaviour study is represented by explanatory research. They are two kinds of this research: the first rests on the election statistics' analysis (elections studies) and the second one on the variety of the voting behaviour empirical research. The representatives of the first approach are French demographers A. Siegfried and F. Goguel who established scientific school known as “voting geography school”. The representatives of the second approach are American and European sociologists, psychologists and political scientists as P. F. Lazarsfeld, B. Berelson, A. Cambell, S. M. Lipset, S. Verba, N. H. Nie, J. Petrocik, H. Himmelweit, A. Heath, G. Marshall, etc. Their research (executed mainly in the USA and UK) has aimed at construction and testing various explanation models of voting behaviour. The most well known models are economic, ideological, sociological and socio-psychological ones. Economic models draw from the rational choice and public choice theories of political and voting behaviour of A. Downs, K. Arrow, J. Buchanan, etc. These authors suggest that voting represents a form of rational decision making that involves the choice based on a full understanding of the issues. The next versions of rational choice theory maintain that people simply vote for any party that seems most likely to maximise their material well-being. Ideological model links voting to a social class and class ideology. Sociological model or "social group theory of voting" explains election behaviour with political alignment of economic classes, religious blocs and next social groups. Social-psychological, or "Party identification model", suggests that voting patterns in elections are primarily associated with the socio-economic factors. These factors create the basis of party loyalty by long-term political socialisation rather than it is moulded by the party political campaigns at election time. This model also focuses on the social correlates of voting and the lack of understanding the political issues among the most voter except the most important ones. The author also introduces the next voting behaviour models, for example interactionist model, model of irrational behaviour, etc.

• Details
• Contents