Do social activities by political parties encourage political activism amongst their membership?

Access to files

•   FULL-TEXT.PDF (pdf)

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to analyse the role of social activities in political parties. Using Putnam’s theory of social capital (1993, 1995 and 2000), the research findings focused on the role of social activities and social ties in contributing to political activism. It was found that social activities helped to form social ties between activists and, as relationships developed, this encouraged political participation. Social ties were established whenever activists met, as well as through shared social and political activities. Local party meetings also allowed opportunities to build and develop social ties between activists. There have been external and internal changes to the role of political parties and these changes have influenced activism. Activists thought their role and effectiveness as part of local democracy had diminished. Other internal structural changes in parties appeared to limit local autonomy and consequently undermined motivations. Activists joined political parties for specific reasons, which were mainly associated with achieving societal change and these reasons influenced their subsequent activism. If activists were unable to achieve their goals to some degree, this reduced activism and caused some to leave the party. Social capital theory is seldom used to study political parties, although the theory is ideally placed to examine the role of social activities and social ties in contributing to active participation. In understanding political activism, social network analysis was used to examine the density and cohesion of ties between activists and dense and cohesive ties were found to be present during periods of intense political activism. The model of social capital theory used was expanded to include personal and group efficacy in participation. Using this approach allowed a more detailed analysis of grassroots activism in local parties which uncovered the complexity of motivations and relationships between activists which formed the basis for political participation. This suggested that a greater focus on social activities and social ties is needed in analysing political activism in parties. The research was based on findings from two case studies in the UK, Beauchief and Sharrow Labour Parties in Sheffield. Social and political activities were analysed over time (Beauchief, 1967-2002 and Sharrow 1992-2002) and used documents, interviews and a questionnaire, and the analysis was mixed method.

Keyword(s)

Political Parties; Grassroots activism; Social Activities; Social Networks;; Social Networks; Social Capital

Bibliographic metadata

Institutional metadata

Record metadata