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The Common Grounds of Adherence? A Qualitative Analysis of Young Partisans’ Collective Identity

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Identität - Identifikation - Ideologie

Part of the book series: Wahlen und politische Einstellungen ((WAPOEIN))

Zusammenfassung

While party identification is one of the mostly used concepts for the explanation of vote choice, the components of party identification and the collective identity of party adherents were never explored systematically. After conceptualizing party identification within the social identity approach, we propose a research framework for the analysis of the collective identity of party adherents. Finally, in a first explorative attempt, we use this framework to analyze, as an example, the collective identity of adherents of the German parties SPD and the Greens. Although the two parties are part of the same ideological camp, we found that they both emphasize the importance of shared values, issues and goals as key components of collective identity, but they differ when it comes to the importance of the myth of origin, customs and lifestyle aspects.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interestingly, they do not refer to the much earlier works of Henri Tajfel and John Turner.

  2. 2.

    As the way of believing refers to personal beliefs and does not deal with the collective level, we will only use the way of life and the way of living together for our framework.

  3. 3.

    The protests against Stuttgart 21 is a local social movement that questioned the decision-making process in Baden-Wuerttemberg in the case of the new main train station in Stuttgart. The Green party sympathized strongly with the social movement and was able to win the following state election.

  4. 4.

    We cannot say for sure if this prominence of Malu Dreyer is due to the sample of students from Rhineland-Palatinate where she became minister president in 2013 or her general presence in the German media and her prominent role as a coalition committee member of the SPD.

  5. 5.

    We already know about the heterogeneity of voters (e.g., Schultze 2016), and it seems plausible that the same holds true for adherents as well.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Deutschland

    Jasmin Fitzpatrick

  2. Universität Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Deutschland

    Sabrina J. Mayer

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  1. Jasmin Fitzpatrick
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Correspondence to Jasmin Fitzpatrick .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr , Potsdam, Germany

    Markus Steinbrecher

  2. Universität Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany

    Evelyn Bytzek

  3. Universität Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Ulrich Rosar

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Fitzpatrick, J., Mayer, S.J. (2019). The Common Grounds of Adherence? A Qualitative Analysis of Young Partisans’ Collective Identity. In: Steinbrecher, M., Bytzek, E., Rosar, U. (eds) Identität - Identifikation - Ideologie. Wahlen und politische Einstellungen. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25604-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-25604-3_4

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