Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Voting Behaviour: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The study of voting behavior is a sub-field of Political Science. Voting represents an important aspect of public participation in a democratic system. Keeping in view the importance of voting behavior in a democratic dispensation, social scientists have paid much attention to its determinants. At least three kinds of theoretical models can be discerned in the works of social scientists: a sociological model, a psycho-social model, and a rational choice model. The focus of the sociological model is on social factors, the psychosocial model focuses on psychological or political factors, while the rational choice model emphasizes economic factors. The main aim of the paper is to present a brief overview of these three kinds of models comparatively.

The socio-psychological factors affecting the voting behaviour of the postgraduate politics students: a Q-methodology study

“… Dressler and Mugerman’s (2023) aforementioned categorisation raises a crucial issue: The factors that motivate or influence voting are not only rational but may also be irrational, intangible, or emotional. This issue is particularly controversial in political science, where a vast scholarly literature has been devoted to the examination of rational and/or opposite factors affecting individual or collective voting behaviour, especially after the rise of postpositivist and postmodern theoretical and normative perspectives in political sciences (see Key, 1966 ; Kramer, 1971 ; Inglehart and Sidjanski, 1976 ; Books and Prysby, 1988 ; Inglehart and Norris, 2000 ; Duch and Stevenson, 2008 ; Bartels, 2010 ; Sharlamanov and Jovanoski, 2014 ; Mahsud and Amin, 2020 ). Among these theoretical and empirical efforts, for instance, Kulachai et al (2023) provide a meticulous and comprehensive review of factors affecting the voting decision.…”

A Bayesian Networks Approach for Analyzing Voting Behavior

“…For both the citizens to participate more effectively in the political process and the political parties to plan their campaign strategy, it is therefore crucial to know about the factors determining voting behavior. There are countless models trying to explain the factors influencing citizens' behavior when they have to confront these decisions (Antunes, 2010;Mahsud & Amin, 2020;Smets & van Ham, 2013).These models are commonly grouped into three categories: the sociological models, emphasizing the influences of social factors; the psycho-social models, focusing on voters' identification with political parties; and the rational-choice models, referred to as models of economic vote. The issue is that all these theoretical explanations have found their own empirical support.…”