Ex. 15. Translate the text into Russian

TEXT 4: VOTING BEHAVIOUR. THEORIES OF VOTING:

Party-identification model

The earliest theory of voting behaviour, the party-identification model, is based on the sense of psychological attachment that people have to parties. Electors are seen as people who identify with a party, in the sense of being long-term supporters who regard the party as 'their' party. Voting is therefore a manifestation of partisanship, not a product of calculation influenced by factors such as policies, personalities, campaigning and media coverage. This model places heavy stress on early political socialisation, seeing the family as the principal means through which political loyalties are forged. These are then, in most cases reinforced by group membership and later social experiences.

In this model, attitudes towards policies and leaders, as well as perceptions about group and personal interests tend to be developed on the basis of party identification. Events are thus interpreted to fit with pre-existing loyalties and attachments. This partisan alignment tends to create stability and continuity, especially in terms of habitual patterns of voting behaviour, often sustained over a lifetime.

Sociological model

Trie sociological model links voting behaviour to group membership, suggesting that electors tend to adopt a voting pattern that reflects the economic and social position of the group to which (hey belong. Rather than developing a psychological attachment to a party on the basis of family influence, this model highlights the importance of a social alignment, reflecting the various divisions and tensions within society. The most significant of these divisions are

 

class, gender, ethnicity, religion and region. Although the impact of socialisation is not irrelevant to this model, social-base explanations allow for rationality insofar as group interests may help to shape party allegiances. This has perhaps been clearest in relation to social class.

Not uncommonly, party systems have been seen to reflect the class system, with the middle classes providing the electoral base for right-wing parties, and the working classes providing the electoral base for left-wing parties.

Rational-choice model

Rational-choice models of voting shift attention onto the individual and away from socialisation and the behaviour of social groups. In this view, voting is seen as a rational act, in the sense that individual electors are believed to decide their party preferences on the basis of their own interests.

Dominant-ideology model

Radical theories of voting tend to highlight the degree to which individual choices are shaped by a process of ideological manipulation and control. In some respects, such theories resemble the sociological model in that voting is seen to reflect a person's position in a social hierarchy. Where these theories differ from the sociological model, however, is in emphasising that how groups and individuals interpret their position depends on how it has been presented to them through education, by the government, and, above all, by the mass media. As the impact of class on voting declines, party competition and political debate are increasingly influenced by the media.

In contrast to the earlier view that the mass media merely
reinforce pre-existing preferences, this suggests that the media are
able to distort the flow of political communications, both by settin|
the agenda for debate and structuring preferences and sympathies,
The consequence of this is that, if voters' attitudes conform to thl
tenets of a dominant ideology, parties will not be able to afford Щ
develop policies that fall outside that ideology. In this way, far frorfl
challenging the existing distribution of power and resources in society*
the electoral process tends to uphold it. The weakness of t
dominant-ideology model is that, by overstating the process of soc
conditioning, it takes individual calculation and personal autonom
out of the picture altogether. t

i Ex. 16. What do you think?

• What is representation? How can one person 'represent' anothe

• How can representation be achieved in practice?

 

• What do elections do? What are their functions?

• How do electoral systems differ? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

• What do election results mean?

• Why do people vote as they do? How can electoral behaviour be explained?

Ex. 17. Complete each paragraph

SUMMARY

• Representation is a relationship in which an individual or group
stands for, or acts on behalf of, a larger body of people. This
may be achieved through _____, through

. through______________.

• In modern politics, representation is invariably linked with
elections. Elections may not be a sufficient condition for
political representation, but are certainly a necessary condition.
For elections to serve representative purposes, however, they
must be _____, and conducted on the basis of

• Elections have a variety of functions. On the one hand, they
have 'bottom-up' functions, such as

______ „_____„_________. On the other hand, radical

theorists emphasise their 'top-down' functions, which include

• Electoral systems are often classified as either majoritarian
systems or proportional systems. In majoritarian systems,
______________________ ___. In proportional systems,

• Majoritarian systems are usually defended on the grounds that they offer the electorate a clear choice of potential governments, invest winning parties with a policy mandate, and help to promote strong and stable government. In contrast, proportional systems are defended on the grounds that they usually give government __________ _.

• The meaning of elections is closely linked to the factors that shape voting behaviour. Amongst the various theories of voting are models that highlight the importance of

__________ ______, ones that emphasise the importance of

___________________, ones that are based on

________________, and ones that suggest that individual

choices are shaped by_____________.