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Workform
Journal_Short_Form
Id
bee33bd5-c7df-439c-8f7e-77a81db219f0
Author Analytic
Horton, John E.; Wayne E. Thompson
Author Combination
Horton, John E.; Wayne E. Thompson
Title Analytic
POWERLESSNESS AND POLITICAL NEGATIVISM: A STUDY OF DEFEATED LOCAL REFERENDUMS
Title Combination
POWERLESSNESS AND POLITICAL NEGATIVISM: A STUDY OF DEFEATED LOCAL REFERENDUMS
Journal Title
The American Journal of Sociology
Date of Publication
1963
Volume ID
67
Location in Work
485-493
Location URL
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2775164.pdf
Notes
Last Accessed Online 2023 January 7.
Abstract
Research on local referendums shows a consistent pattern of negative voting among the socially and economically deprived segments of the population. The research reported here tests the hypothesis that referendums may serve as institutional outlets for protest, that voting against local issues may be an expression of political protest on the part of the powerless and ordinarily apathetic members of the community. The findings from a study of defeated school-bond issues in two communities show a consistent relationship between powerlessness and negative votes in those cases where a feeling of powerlessness took the form of alienation from certain symbols of power in the community. This relationship holds independently of economic self-interest and related variables. Evidence suggests that voting down local issues does not represent an organized, class-conscious opposition, but a type of mass protest, a convergence of the individual assessments of the powerless who have projected into available symbols the fears and suspicions growing out of their alienated existence.
Call Number
752.H6.P6 (VF)
Keywords
Politics ;
Collective Behavior ;
Social Participation ;
