Review of Sociology
Volume/Issue:
Volume 9: Issue 2
Can Voters Be Equal?
Author:
Gábor Tóka Central European University Budapest, Nádor u. 9. H-1051

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Pages:
51–72
Online Publication Date:
22 Jul 2005
Publication Date:
01 Dec 2003
Article Category:
Journal Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/revsoc.9.2003.2.3
Keywords:
Electoral behavior; Electoral behavior; level of information; turnout effect.
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The paper empirically tests the proposition that because of unequal social distribution of politically relevant resources, some groups of citizens may be less successful in expressing their specifically political preferences in the vote than others. Hence, the electoral arena may give different people different degrees of political influence even when the formal equality of all citizens before the law is rigorously upheld in the electoral process. The first part of the paper explores the assumptions behind the proposition itself and the further assumptions that need to be made in order to test it empirically. The second part of the paper (forthcoming in the next issue of this periodical) offers an empirical test. Survey data on voting behavior in 18 democratic party systems from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and Larry Bartels' (1996) simulation procedure - now extended to the analysis of multiparty-systems, turnout effects and non-linear information effects on the vote - are utilized to explore the question. The results show that social differences in both turnout and political knowledge may lead to the hypothesized inequalities but their size is remarkably modest.

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Cover Review of Sociology
Review of Sociology
Print ISSN:
1417-8648
Online ISSN:
1588-2845

Review of Sociology
Language English
Year of
Foundation		 2000
Publication
Programme		 ceased
Founder A Magyar Szociológiai Társaság -- Hungarian Sociological Association
Founder's
Address		 H-1097 Budapest, Hungary Tóth Kálmán u.4.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address		 H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher		 Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 1417-8648 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2845 (Online)

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