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

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的重要作用。 此外，在竞选和政策辩论中，政治精英和竞选活动往往针对选民的群体身份，以调动群体支持。 然而，虽然基于群体的动员显然在政治中很普遍，但社会科学理论对基于群体的动员策略可能在什么情况下起作用却没有什么说法。 我们对基于群体的动员的理解存在差距，这是因为对决策的解释存在分歧，强调个人成本/收益分析（理性模型）和强调对群体的依恋（群体模型）。 本项目旨在填补这一空白，合并基于群体的模型与理性选择模型，以提供一个经验检验的理论，何时以及如何基于群体的动员努力增加参与。 由于个人强烈认同他们的群体很可能参与团体的努力，无论动员的努力，关键的问题是：是什么因素使个人谁适度认同他们的群体容易受到基于群体的动员尝试？ 政治沟通中的框架（即包含对事件解释的说服性信息）已被证明会改变个人？意见或行为，如果框架以群体身份为目标，则可用于动员群体。 然而，潜在的理性决定了具有中等倾向（如群体认同）的个体是否会接受或拒绝框架。 这种合理性被限制框架效应的因素或调节因子所捕获，这些因素或调节因子帮助我们预测个体是否会接受或拒绝框架（Druckman，2001 a; 2001 b）。 因此，对群体框架和潜在调节者的研究可以帮助产生可检验的预测，并将理性和基于群体的行为模型结合起来。 该项目旨在证明，成功的基于群体的动员工作包括目标群体身份的框架，并由主持人加强，如阈值（确定群体离目标有多远的规则），动员信息的可靠来源，决策中涉及的利害关系，以及这些因素之间的相互作用。本文第一部分的投票游戏实验结果支持了关于群体目标框架和阈值调节者之间相互作用的假设。这项研究的补充是一个公共产品实验室的实验，测试的群体目标框架，赌注和可靠的来源的影响。此外，已经开发了一个调查实验，测试组为目标的框架和支持学校债券的建议。 这个项目帮助我们理解群体认同在政治中的作用，这一点很重要，原因有三个。首先，这个项目帮助我们了解哪些类型的动员战略增加了代表性不足的群体，如少数民族和女性的参与。第二，该项目的调查结果表明，动员战略不必包括增加群体间紧张关系的内容。换句话说，这个项目强调，群体策略可以增加群体成员的参与，而不会增加群体间的紧张关系。最后，该项目为今后探索缓解群体间紧张关系的战略打开了大门，特别是在这些紧张关系高度紧张并可能涉及暴力或冲突的情况下。

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.