Social networkers and careerists: Explaining high-intensity activism among British party members

Abstract

Drawing on survey data on the members of six British parties gathered in the immediate aftermath of the general election of 2015, this article asks what motivates members to engage in high-intensity election campaign activism. It argues that two factors are especially prominent: the aspiration to pursue a career in politics (which only accounts for a small minority of these activists) and becoming integrated into a local social network (which accounts for a much larger proportion). By contrast, members who lack either of these characteristics, but are mainly motivated to join by ideological impulses, largely restrict themselves to low-intensity activity. These findings are likely to be especially pertinent to countries with single-member district electoral systems.

Explicando el activismo entre los miembros de las juventudes de los partidos políticos

“…The other four modalities imply a substantive energy investment on the part of the YPO member. For instance, voluntary work implies renouncing leisure time, and in some cases, attendance to events involves an economic cost (Webb et al 2020). Internal party office is deemed to be a 'high-intensive' activism form (Whiteley and Seyd 2002:62).…”

¿Adiós a los activistas todoterreno? Un análisis de conglomerados del activismo de partido en España

“…Party scholars studying party members and activists have often focused on three main aspects: who they are, why they are active, and what they do in the party (Bale et al 2020; van Haute and Gauja 2015;Heidar 2006) subgroup considered as activists. Party members are generally defined by their formal attachment to the political party through the payment of a membership fee or by their behaviour, for instance, through voter loyalty or participation in party primaries ( van Haute and Gauja 2015;Hazan and Rahat 2010;Heidar 1994;Panebianco 1988;Ponce and Scarrow 2014;Scarrow 2014).…”

“…Interestingly, while we know most members of political parties are not very active in the organization (Bale et al 2020), activists are still key in their functioning. Active members can be a resource.…”

“…While the figures of party members have steadily declined in most countries (Biezen et al 2012;Biezen and Poguntke 2014; van Haute and Gauja 2015;Whiteley 2011), we don't have many studies indicating this is also the trend among party activists. This is explained mainly because of the lack of longitudinal data on party activism (Bale, Webb, and Poletti 2020;Whiteley 2011). Recent studies on British and Scandinavian parties point towards an increase in the number of members that consider themselves active (Bale et al 2020:99;Demker, Heidar, and Kosiara-Pedersen 2020).…”

Party activism in the populist radical right: The case of the UK Independence Party

“…Mobilization can be driven by social dynamics and social connections with peers and these have been shown to be important drivers of political action (e.g. Kahne and Bowyer 2018;Sinclair 2012;Kertzer and Zeitzoff 2017;Webb et al 2019). Furthermore, active involvement in politics can be 'socially contagious', so that individuals with connections to an activist become more likely to be active themselves (Bond et al 2012;Doherty and Schraeder 2018).…”