Social Norms and Rational Choice: Voter Turnout Experiments in Two British Elections
Year: 2011
Type: preprint
Abstract: Research highlighting the mobilising effect of positive social norms raises questions for choice models of turnout. This paper presents survey experimental effects in two national British elections for a social norms message (high levels of voting), and a message (low levels of voting) and finds a significant response to positive social norms before campaigns but a greater response to messages during elections. The findings are tested among subgroups – those we could expect to respond more to rational voter messages, but the message effects are consistent. The paper also finds that local community reference group messages, which might be expected to be consistent with social norm mechanisms, show no expected effects. The paper therefore cautions scholars against generalising the effects of social norms on turnout, and calls for greater research on turnout message across time, country and campaign context.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Author: Jane Green
Institution: University of Manchester
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2265463253