Despite the theoretical centrality of associational life in interest group formation, there is little research to assess it. We seek such a contribution by analyzing how the social environment affects the individual group joining process. We promote a two-pronged explanation, drawing upon the nature of both associations and individual associational ties. Specifically, we examine the twin forces of solidarity and discord that constrain and expand, respectively, information acquisition within two associational types, using survey data clustered by congregations and neighborhoods. In congregations, we find meaningful variance across social contexts in the available group information, which affects group knowledge and membership. As unstructured social environments, neighborhoods lack the organizational structure to spread group learning and participation. While these results generally confirm the pluralist framework, they highlight the multilevel forces that fuel the chaotic connection of citizens with organized interests.
BaldassarriD.DianiM. (2007). The integrative power of civic networks. American Journal of Sociology, 113, 735-780.
2.
BaybeckB.McClurgS. (2005). What do they know and how do they know it? An examination of citizen awareness of context. American Politics Research, 33, 492-520.
3.
BentleyA. (1908). The process of government: A study of social pressures. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
4.
BerelsonB.LazarsfeldP.McPheeW. (1954). Voting. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
5.
BrooksJ.PrysbyC. (1991). Political behavior and the local context. New York, NY: Praeger.
6.
ClaassenR.NicholsonS. (2013). Extreme voices: Interest groups and the misrepresentation of issue publics. Public Opinion Quarterly, 77, 861-887.
7.
DjupeP. (2011). Political pluralism and the information search: Determinants of group opinionation. Political Research Quarterly, 64, 68-81.
8.
DjupeP.GilbertC. (2003). The prophetic pulpit: Clergy, churches, and communities in American politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
9.
DjupeP.GilbertC. (2009). The political influence of churches. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
10.
DjupeP.GrantJ. (2001). Religious institutions and political participation in America. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40, 303-314.
11.
DjupeP.HuntP. (2009). Beyond the Lynn White thesis: Congregational effects on environmental concern. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 48, 670-686.
12.
DjupeP.NeiheiselJ. (2008). Christian right horticulture: Grassroots support in a republican primary campaign. Politics and Religion, 1, 55-84.
13.
DjupeP.OlsonL. (2013). Stained-glass politics: Does women’s associational leadership engender the political engagement of women?Politics, Groups, & Identities, 1, 329-348.
14.
DjupeP.SokheyA. (2014). The distribution and determinants of socially-supplied political expertise. American Politics Research, 42, 199-225.
15.
DownsA. (1957). An economic theory of democracy. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
16.
FernandezR.McAdamD. (1988). Social networks and social movements: Multiorganizational fields and recruitment to Mississippi Freedom Summer. Sociological Forum, 3, 257-282.
17.
FiremanB.GamsonW. (1979). Utilitarian logic in the resource mobilization perspective. In ZaldM.McCarthyJ. (Eds.), The dynamics of social movements (pp. 8-44). Cambridge, MA: Winthrop Press.
18.
GilbertC. (1993). The impact of churches on political behavior. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
19.
GranovetterM. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
20.
GrayV.LoweryD. (1996). The population ecology of interest group representation: Lobbying communities in the American states. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
21.
GuthJ.GreenJ. (1993). Salience: The core concept? In LeegeD.KellstedtL. (Eds.), Rediscovering the religious factor in American politics (pp. 157-174). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
22.
GuthJ.GreenJ.KellstedtL.SmidtC.PolomaM. (1997). The bully pulpit: The politics of protestant clergy. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
HeaneyM. (2004). Outside the issue niche: The multidimensionality of interest group identity. American Politics Research, 32, 611-651.
25.
HeaneyM. (2014). Multiplex networks and interest group influence reputation: An exponential random graph model. Social Networks, 36, 66-81.
26.
HuckfeldtR. (2001). The social communication of political expertise. American Political Science Review, 45, 425-438.
27.
HuckfeldtR.MendezJ. (2008). Moths, flames, and political engagement: Managing disagreement within communication networks. Journal of Politics, 70, 83-96.
28.
HuckfeldtR.SpragueJ. (1995). Citizens, politics, and social communications: Information and influence in an election campaign. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
29.
JelenT. (1993). The political consequences of religious group attitudes. Journal of Politics, 55, 178-190.
30.
KittsJ. (1999). Not in our backyard: Solidarity, social networks, and the ecology of environmental mobilization. Sociological Inquiry, 69, 551-574.
31.
KittsJ. (2000). Mobilizing in black boxes: Social networks and participation in social movement organizations. Mobilization, 5, 214-257.
32.
KittsJ. (2006). Social influence and the emergence of norms amid ties of amity and enmity. Simulation Modeling Practice and Theory, 14, 407-422.
33.
KlofstadC. (2007). Talk leads to recruitment: How discussions about politics and current events increase civic participation. Political Research Quarterly, 60, 180-191.
34.
KochJ. (1993). Assessment of group influence, subjective political competence, and interest group membership. Political Behavior, 15, 309-325.
35.
KrosnickJ.MilburnM. (1990). Psychological determinants of political opinionation. Social Cognition, 8, 49-72.
36.
LeighleyJ. (1996). Group membership and the mobilization of political participation. Journal of Politics, 58, 447-463.
37.
McAdamD.PaulsenR. (1993). Specifying the relationship between social ties and activism. American Journal of Sociology, 99, 640-667.
38.
McClurgS. (2006). The electoral relevance of political talk: Examining disagreement and expertise effects in social networks on political participation. American Journal of Political Science, 50, 737-754.
39.
McFarlandA. (1991). Interest groups and political time: Cycles in America. British Journal of Political Science, 21, 257-284.
40.
McPheeW. (1963). Formal theories of mass behavior. New York, NY: Free Press of Glencoe.
41.
MoeT. (1980). The organization of interests: Incentives and the internal dynamics of political interest groups. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
42.
MondakJ. (1990). Determinants of coattail voting. Political Behavior, 12, 265-288.
43.
MutzD. (2002a). The consequences of cross-cutting networks for political participation. American Journal of Political Science, 46, 838-855.
44.
MutzD. (2002b). Cross-cutting social networks: Testing democratic theory in practice. American Political Science Review, 96, 111-126.
45.
MutzD. (2006). Hearing the other side: Deliberative versus participatory democracy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
46.
MutzD.MondakJ. (2006). The workplace as a context for cross-cutting political discourse. American Journal of Political Science, 68, 140-155.
47.
NeiheiselJ.DjupeP.SokheyA. (2009). Veni, vidi, disseri: Churches and the promise of democratic deliberation. American Politics Research, 37, 614-643.
48.
NickersonD. (2008). Is voting contagious? Evidence from two field experiments. American Political Science Review, 102, 49-57.
49.
OliverP. (1984). “If you don’t do it, nobody else will”: Active and token contributors to local collective action. American Sociological Review, 49, 601-610.
50.
OlsonM. (1965). The logic of collective action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
51.
PetersonS. (1992). Church participation and political participation: The spillover effect. American Politics Quarterly, 20, 123-139.
52.
PriceV.CappellaJ.NirL. (2002). Does disagreement contribute to more deliberative opinion?Political Communication, 19, 95-112.
53.
PutnamR.CampbellD. (2010). American grace: How religion divides and unites us. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
54.
RaudenbushS.BrykA. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
55.
RothenbergL. (1988). Organizational maintenance and the retention decision in groups. American Political Science Review, 82, 1129-1152.
56.
SampsonR.MorenoffJ.Gannon-RowleyT. (2002). Assessing “neighborhood effects”: Social processes and new directions in research. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 443-478.
57.
SchwadelP. (2005). Individual, congregational, and denominational effects on church members’ civic participation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44, 159-171.
58.
SnowD.ZurcherL.Ekland-OlsonS. (1980). Social networks and social movements: A microstructural approach to differential recruitment. American Sociological Review, 45, 787-801.
59.
SpragueJ. (1982). Is there a micro-theory consistent with contextual analysis? In OstromE. (Ed.), Strategies of political inquiry (pp. 99-121). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
60.
SteenbergenM.JonesB. (2002). Modeling multilevel data structures. American Journal of Political Science, 46, 218-237.
61.
TocquevilleA. (1994). Democracy in America (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. (Original work published 1840)
62.
TrumanD. (1951). The governmental process: Political interests and public opinion. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
63.
TurnerJ.HoggM.OakesP.ReicherS. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
64.
VerbaS.NieN. (1972). Participation in America: Political democracy and social equality. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
65.
VerbaS.SchlozmanK.BradyH. (1995). Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
66.
WaldK.Calhoun-BrownA. (2011). Religion and politics in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
67.
WaldK.OwenD.HillS. (1988). Churches as political communities. American Political Science Review, 82, 531-548.
68.
WalkerE. (2008). Contingent pathways from joiner to activist: The indirect effect of participation in voluntary associations on civic engagement. Sociological Forum, 23, 116-143.
69.
WelchM.LeegeD. (1991). Dual reference groups and political orientations: An examination of evangelically oriented Catholics. American Journal of Political Science, 35, 28-56.
