Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Group Based Mobilization: An Experiment

政治学博士论文研究：基于群体的动员：一项实验

• 批准号: 0819160
• 负责人: Rick Wilson
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: William Marsh Rice University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-01 至 2009-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0819160&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Political; Science

Groups are often mobilized to take action in politics. For example, the civil rights movement of the 1960s and other social movements illustrate the large role that group mobilization plays in politics. Further, in election contests and policy debates, political elites and campaigns often target the group identities of voters to mobilize group support. However, while group-based mobilization is clearly widespread in politics, social science theories have little to say about which group-based mobilization strategies are likely to work and in what circumstances. This gap in our understanding of group-based mobilization stems from a divide in the field between explanations of decision-making that emphasize individual costs/benefits analysis (rational models) and those that emphasize attachment to group (group models). This project seeks to fill this gap by merging group-based models with the rational choice model to provide an empirically testable theory of when and how group-based mobilization efforts increase participation. Since individuals who strongly identify with their group are likely to participate in group efforts regardless of mobilization efforts, the key question is: what factors make individuals who moderately identify with their group susceptible to group-based mobilization attempts? Frames in political communication (i.e. persuasive messages containing interpretations of events) have been shown to change individuals? opinions or behavior and can be used to mobilize groups if the frame targets group identity. However, an underlying rationality determines whether individuals with moderate predispositions (such as group identity) will accept or reject frames. This rationality is captured by factors, or moderators that limit framing effects, that help us predict whether individuals will accept or reject frames (Druckman, 2001a; 2001b). As such, a study of group frames and potential moderators can help generate testable predictions and merge rational and group-based models of behavior. This project seeks to demonstrate that successful group-based mobilization efforts consist of frames that target group identity and that are reinforced by moderators, such as thresholds (rules that determine how far the group is from their goal), credible sources of mobilization messages, the stakes involved in the decision, and the interactions among these factors. The results from an initial voting game laboratory experiment for the first part of the dissertation provide support for the hypothesis concerning the interaction between group-targeted frames and the moderator of thresholds. This research is supplemented with a public goods laboratory experiment that tests the effects of group-targeted frames, stakes, and credible sources. In addition, a survey-experiment has been developed that tests group-targeted frames and support for a school bond proposal. This project helps us understand the role of group identity in politics, and this is important to understand for three key reasons. First, this project helps us understand which types of mobilization strategies increase participation of underrepresented groups, such as minorities and females. Secondly, the findings of this project suggest that mobilization strategies do not have to include content that increases intergroup tensions. In other words, this project highlights that group strategies can increase participation of group members without also increasing intergroup tensions. Finally, this project opens the door for future explorations of strategies for diffusing intergroup tensions, particularly in situations where these tensions are high and could involve violence or conflict.

团体经常被动员起来采取政治行动。 例如，20世纪60年代的民权运动和其他社会运动说明了群体动员在政治中发挥的巨大作用。 此外，在选举竞赛和政策辩论中，政治精英和竞选活动往往会针对选民的群体身份来动员群体支持。 然而，虽然基于群体的动员在政治中显然很普遍，但社会科学理论却很少讨论哪些基于群体的动员策略可能有效以及在什么情况下有效。 我们对基于群体的动员理解上的这种差距源于强调个人成本/收益分析（理性模型）的决策解释和强调群体依恋（群体模型）的决策解释之间的分歧。 该项目旨在通过将基于群体的模型与理性选择模型相结合来填补这一空白，以提供一个关于何时以及如何基于群体的动员努力增加参与的可经验检验的理论。 由于无论动员努力如何，强烈认同其群体的个人都可能参与群体努力，因此关键问题是：哪些因素使中等认同群体的个人容易受到基于群体的动员尝试的影响？ 政治沟通中的框架（即包含对事件的解释的有说服力的信息）已被证明可以改变个人？如果框架以群体身份为目标，则可以用来动员群体的意见或行为。 然而，潜在的理性决定了具有中等倾向（例如群体认同）的个体是否会接受或拒绝框架。 这种合理性是由限制框架效应的因素或调节因素所捕获的，这些因素或调节因素可以帮助我们预测个人是否会接受或拒绝框架（Druckman，2001a；2001b）。 因此，对群体框架和潜在调节者的研究可以帮助生成可测试的预测，并合并理性和基于群体的行为模型。 该项目旨在证明，成功的基于群体的动员工作包括以群体身份为目标的框架，并由主持人强化，例如阈值（确定群体距离目标有多远的规则）、动员信息的可信来源、决策涉及的利害关系，以及这些因素之间的相互作用。论文第一部分的初始投票游戏实验室实验的结果为有关群体目标框架和阈值调节器之间相互作用的假设提供了支持。这项研究得到了公共产品实验室实验的补充，该实验测试了针对群体的框架、赌注和可靠来源的影响。此外，还开发了一项调查实验来测试针对群体的框架和对学校债券提案的支持。 这个项目帮助我们了解群体认同在政治中的作用，理解这一点很重要，原因有三个。首先，该项目帮助我们了解哪些类型的动员策略可以增加少数群体和女性等代表性不足群体的参与。其次，该项目的研究结果表明，动员策略不必包括增加群体间紧张关系的内容。换句话说，该项目强调团体策略可以增加团体成员的参与度，同时又不会增加团体间的紧张关系。最后，该项目为未来探索缓解群体间紧张局势的策略打开了大门，特别是在这些紧张局势高度且可能涉及暴力或冲突的情况下。