Party Activities and Party Identification

This document explores the role of party activists in American party organizations and the concept of party identification among Americans. It discusses the drivers of party activity, the use of technology in political campaigns, the impact of social media on political activism, and the lack of concern towards less involved voters. It also examines the development of party identification in childhood and adolescence and its influence on political behavior. The document concludes by highlighting the enduring power of political parties in the US political domain.

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1PARTY ACTIVITIES AND PARTY IDENTIFICATION
Chapter 5- Party Activists
The chapter 5 explicitly highlighted the way volunteer activists tend to sustain the
operations of the American party organizations. Clark and Wilson (1961) in the chapter
has focused on essential drivers which has led people in involving into Party activity such
as material, social as well as purposive in addition to issue-based incentives. Authors
have shed light on the case of Obama Campaign held in 2012 that has been identified as a
‘well-oiled machine’ as it used same organizational structure in around 800 of its field
offices around the nation. It has been noted that the Obama campaign strategically
understood these vital drivers and thus included state-of-the-art technology in order to
involve old fashioned voters into the campaign. Moreover, substantial set of discussions
by authors have highlighted issues encountered issues in engaging volunteers to political
movements. Data provided in the chapter has revealed that around 8% of people have
been working on a campaign and just 5% of them have been involved in party
organization (Feltrin, 1997). In addition to this, the chapter highlights a vital question
whether citizens have been enquired regarding the importance they feel in involving into
political movement. Verba, Schlozman and Brady (1995) have noted that majority of
activists have revealed the reasons of their initial engagement to the political campaign
primarily because of informal, personal requests for assistance. On the other hand, the
chapter has shed light on the way social media has been changing the concept of political
activism. Recently, with increasing rate of prominence of social media, probable activists
and their national parties have been seen to be major tools for shaping the concept. At

2PARTY ACTIVITIES AND PARTY IDENTIFICATION
this point of discussion, authors have cited the example of Democratic campaigns that has
used Facebook as a vital application for connecting Facebook friends in voting records
and further survive the potential demands of election campaign. The chapter further
focused on the issues related to representation where party activists tend to show a severe
lack of concern towards less involved voters. Such a lack of concern of political activists
has been fundamental reason for Americans to view party organizations as alien places.
Nonetheless, Feltrin (1997) has observed the propensity of democracy to be
comprehensive when major parties take distinct as well as unique positions on major
policy enquiries. Lastly, the chapter concludes by shedding light on the long-established
concern regarding the intemperance of party power which has been diffused through the
diverse levels of party agencies. However, there have been few instances in the history of
America when the political parties have shown competence to hold up the forms of
incentives as well as resources which is imperative to develop a qualified and competent
dynamic organization at all levels of government.
It has been noted that even though, the national, state as well as local organizations
have offered substantial financial resources and further mastered new campaign
competencies in the last two decades, the recurrent challenge of implementing several
drivers and magnetizing substantial level of volunteers (Clark & Wilson, 1961).
Furthermore, it has been noted that attracting new volunteers has still remained one of the
critical challenges encountered by the American parties.

3PARTY ACTIVITIES AND PARTY IDENTIFICATION
Chapter 6
The sixth chapter of Party Identification offered explicit insights of the way
majority of Americans have started perceiving themselves as Democrat or an independent
in childhood without even understanding the proper implications of the terms. While few
recognized people’s party attachment as a type of enduring team which enables
individuals distinguish a place in group negotiations which characterizes the political
world. Meanwhile, on the other hand, several other scholars perceive party identification
to be irregular reflecting a functioning tally of an individual’s constructive as well as
unconstructive experiences with the party’s repute in the office. Moreover, Beck and
Jennings (1991) have noted in the chapter that partisanship that has been primarily
developed in childhood and adolescence period tend to get confronted in young
adulthood. Furthermore, patterns of partisanships tend to undergo diverse transitions over
time. A percentage graph has been provided in this chapter which refer to level of party
identification by decade from 1950 to 2010. From the graph it can noted that only a few
events have critically disrupted this narrative of considerably stable associations. Reports
of authors have revealed that during period the Watergate scandals primarily caused
Richard Nixon to resign from his position. Moreover, Green, Palmquist and Schickler
(2004) have noted that the revival of party association during the 1980’s and 1990’s has
been primarily aided by significant partisanship in Congress and further by more partisan
political leaders like President Rogan Reagan along with former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich. At this juncture, Claggett (1981) has noted continual collision between

4PARTY ACTIVITIES AND PARTY IDENTIFICATION
candidates and issues whereby a particular compelling area of concern primarily related
to financial disaster or threat of terrorism tend to lead a voter to shift his or her interest
from their party’s candidates. While, some voters tend to separate their ticket to
proficiently create a moderate or segregated government, it is highly universal for voters
to identify deficiencies from their party identification due to their inclination towards
recognized candidate operating a financially resourced campaign. The chapter concludes
by focusing on relentless implication of party which shows substantial influence in the
U.S political domain. Moreover, in the view of Beck and Jennings (1991), Party ID
previously has been identified as a psychological commitment which showed strong
ability to direct other political convictions, values as well as beliefs. While, strong
partisans are likely to distinguish areas of challenges as well as candidates through
‘party-tinted’ glasses, they further show a potential to cast vote for their party’s
candidates and to be politically active in comparison to other party’s candidates and to
gain greater degree of activism.
Claggett (1981) has noted that through the continual power of party, voters in
America tends to see candidates, challenges as well as elections in partisan concepts and
further to cast vote accordingly. Such a strong implication of political party led the
elections of 2000’s and 2010’s to assemble strong partisans to a distinctive degree.
However, it has been claimed that party-operated contests till date show significant level
of possibility even in a candidate centred political arena.

5PARTY ACTIVITIES AND PARTY IDENTIFICATION
References
Beck, P. A., & Jennings, M. K. (1991). Family traditions, political periods, and the
development of partisan orientations. The Journal of Politics, 53(3), 742-763.
Claggett, W. (1981). Partisan acquisition versus partisan intensity: Life-cycle, generation,
and period effects, 1952-1976. American Journal of Political Science, 193-214.
Clark, P. B., & Wilson, J. Q. (1961). Incentive systems: A theory of
organizations. Administrative science quarterly, 129-166.
Feltrin, P. (1997). Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman e Henry E. Brady, Voice and
Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics, Cambridge, Harvard University
Press, 1995, pp. 640. Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza
Politica, 27(3), 644-647.
Green, D. P., Palmquist, B., & Schickler, E. (2004). Partisan hearts and minds: Political
parties and the social identities of voters. Yale University Press.
Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L., & Brady, H. E. (1995). Voice and equality: Civic
voluntarism in American politics. Harvard University Press.