Three Competing Paradigm in Explaining Voting Behavior

1. Three Competing Paradigm in Explaining Voting Behavior The Sociological Approach The Psychological Approach The Economic Approach

2. Sociological Approach: The Columbia school • The structural conditions and social constraints that voters found them in should be the starting point for voting behavior. The focal point is social class or ethnicity. • Psychological Approach: The Michigan school • All human behaviors are guided by pre-existing psychological propensities. The focal point is the mediating role of long-term psychological predisposition—party identity in guiding citizen voting. • The Economic Approach: The Rochester school • All human behaviors are driven by utility-maximizing motivation. The focal point is the expected net material benefits that parties/candidates bring to the voter.

3. Explaining Votingand Non-Voting • Psychological Approach: Propensity to vote is a function of • Sense of citizen duty • Political efficacy • Intensity of partisanship • Rational Choice Approach • The paradox of voting • First remedy by Anthony Downs: to support and sustain democratic system

4. Anthony Downs: R = pjB -C (R為投票所得報酬，B為利益落差，pj為個人投票能夠導致此利益落差的機率，C為投票成本 Riker and Ordeshook: R = pjB ＋D - C (D為支持民主或候選人得到的滿足） Ferejohn and Fiorina: Decision rule based on Minimax strategy to minimize the possibility of maximum regret Retrospective Voting: Party identification is no more than a running tally of past evaluation of the performance of one party versus the other. Efforts to Resolve the Paradox