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In
Everyday Identity and Electoral Politics, Adam S. Harris explores how social identities, such as ethnicity and race, influence politics, economic development, and voting behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing upon original survey data, interviews, focus groups, and participant observations, Harris conceptualizes a theory of identity construction that both predicts differences in vote choice and theorizes how the identity construction process shapes differential outcomes in vote choice within ethnic groups. It is one of the first studies that directly links the every-day ethnic identity construction process with voting behavior, and it is the first to do so using a continuous conceptualization of ethnicity (i.e., one capable of shifting over time).
List of contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: A Theory of Sociological Attachment
- Chapter 3: What is Ethnic Distance?
- Chapter 4: The South African Case
- Chapter 5: Study Design and Empirical Ethnic Distance Measure
- Chapter 6: The Empirical Relationship Between Ethnic Distance and Voter Behavior
- Chapter 7: Beyond South Africa
- Chapter 8: Conclusion
- Appendices
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Adam S. Harris is an Associate Professor in Development Politics in the Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy at University College London. Prior to joining UCL, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Governance and Local Development (GLD) program at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2015-2017); he is currently a member of the GLD Steering Committee and a Research Associate with the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg. He received his PhD in Political Science from the Wilf Family Department of Politics at New York University (2015). He studies ethnic, race, development, and African politics with a focus on political participation using experimental, survey, and mixed methods.
Summary
Between one third and half of voters in Sub-Saharan Africa do not vote for their ethnic group's party. The magnitude of these numbers suggests that not voting in line with one's ethnic group may often be the norm, not the aberration in many ethnically divided societies. So when and why do voters choose not to vote for their ethnic group's party even when it is often advantageous to do so?
In Everyday Identity and Electoral Politics, Adam S. Harris explores how social identities, such as ethnicity and race, influence politics and voting behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using a continuous conceptualization of ethnicity, he explains that individuals who are not readily associated with their ethnic group are less likely to vote along ethnic lines and more likely to be swing voters in elections that are centered around ethnic divisions. Drawing upon original survey data, survey experiments, interviews, focus groups, and participant observations, Harris conceptualizes a theory of identity construction that both predicts differences in vote choice and theorizes how the identity construction process shapes differential outcomes in vote choice within ethnic groups.
A novel study of "atypical" voters who do not go along with their ethnic or racial cohorts in the voting booth, this book sheds new light on the complex and nuanced relationship between ethnic group membership and political preferences, as well as the malleability of ethnicity and race as categories.
Additional text
Adam Harris has produced an impressive study that takes us beyond conventional wisdom in understanding how ethnic and racial identities shape political preferences. Based on insightful theorizing and original empirics, Harris provides a nuanced depiction of identity construction and how it differentially affects people's everyday life experiences. This book offers profound insights for anyone who seeks to understand the complex impact of race or ethnicity on political behavior in diverse societies around the world.
