Skip to main content
Log in

Ties That Bind: Measurement, Demographics, and Social Connectedness

  • Published:
Political Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this article I develop a taxonomy of how demographic variables are used in political science models. The functions of demographics—for description, as controls in statistical models, or as proxies for external societal cleavages or underlying individual attributes—raise questions about validity and responsible usage. To illustrate the more general problem, the construct of social connectedness is examined in regard to its relationship with various demographic variables and its impact on voter turnout. Using data from the 1992 National Election Study, the analyses indicate that marital status, church attendance, owning a home, formal group membership, education, and income are all related to social connectedness, but the impact of education and income on electoral participation does not appear to be mediated by social connectedness. The results illustrate that careful consideration of measurement issues can clarify the relationships in our substantive models and that substantive models can illuminate measurement issues as well.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Abramson, Paul R., and John H. Aldrich (1982). The decline of electoral participation in America. American Political Science Review 76: 502–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achen, Christopher H. (1983). Toward theories of data: The state of political methodology. In Ada W. Finifter (ed.), Political Science: The State of the Discipline. Washington DC: American Political Science Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achen, Christopher H. (1992). Social psychology, demographic variables, and linear regression: Breaking the iron triangle in voting research. Political Behavior 14: 195–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aigner, D. J. (1974). MSE dominance of least squares with errors-of-observation. Journal of Econometrics 2: 365–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Althusius, Johannes (1995). Politica, edited and translated by Frederick S. Carney. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anheier, Helmut K., Lester M. Salamon, and Edith Archambault (1994). Participating citizens: U.S.-Europe comparisons in volunteer action. The Public Perspective 5: 16–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle (1952). Aristotle: II, vol. 9 in Great Books of the Western World, editor in chief Robert Maynard Hutchens. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, Kenneth D. (1988). The conceptualization of validity: Current perspectives. Social Science Research 170: 117–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, Paul Allen (1991). Voters' intermediation environments in the 1988 presidential contest. Public Opinion Quarterly 55: 371–394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, Peter M., and Chih-Ping Chou (1988). Practical issues in structural modeling.” In Sage Focus Editions, vol. 94, Common Problems/Proper Solutions: Avoiding Error in Quantitative Research, edited by J. Scott Long. Sage Publications.

  • Blalock, Hubert M., Jr. (1968). The measurement problem: A gap between the languages of theory and research. In Hubert M. Blalock, Jr., and Ann Blalock (eds.), Methodology in Social Research. New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, Toronto, London, and Syndey: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blalock, Hubert M., Jr. (1982). Conceptualization and Measurement in the Social Sciences. Beverly Hills, London, and New Delhi: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollen, Kenneth A. (1989). Structural Equations with Latent Variables. New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, and Singapore: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Thad A. (1981). On contextual change and partisan attributes. British Journal of Political Science 11: 427–447.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Thad A. (1988). Migration and Politics: The Impact of Population Mobility on American Voting Behavior. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, Angus, Gerald Gurin, and Warren E. Miller (1954). The Voter Decides. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmines, Edward G., and Richard A. Zeller (1979). Reliability and Validity Testing. Sage University Paper series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences, 07–017. Newbury Park, London, and New Delhi: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassel, Carol A. (1994). Social Participation Theories and Turnout. Presented at the annual meetings of the Midwest Political Science Association, April 14–16, Chicago, Illinois.

  • Cassel, Carol A., and Robert C. Luskin (1988). Simple explanations of turnout decline. American Political Science Review 82: 1321–1330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, Stephen C. and Michael A. Maggiotto (1982). Measuring political efficacy. Political Methodology 8: 85–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig, Stephen C., Richard G. Niemi, and Glenn E. Silver (1990). Political efficacy and trust: A report on the NES pilot study items. Political Behavior 12: 289–314.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeTocqueville, Alexis (1969). Democracy in America. Garden City: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeVellis, Robert F. (1991). Applied Social Research Methods Series, vol. 26, Scale Development: Theory and Applications. Newbury Park, London, and New Delhi: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, Otis Dudley (1984). Notes on Social Measurement: Historical and Critical. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elazar, Daniel J. (1987). Exploring Federalism. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elazar, Daniel J. (1995). Althusius' grand design for a federal commonwealth. In Politica by Johannes Althusius, edited and translated by Frederick S. Carney. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiorina, Morris P. (1975). Formal models in political science. American Journal of Poitical Science 19: 133–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flanigan, William H., and Nancy H. Zingale (1994). Political Behavior of the American Electorate, 8th ed. Washington, DC: C.Q. Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fornell, Claes, and Roland T. Rusk (1989). Incorporating prior theory in covariance structure analysis: A Bayesian approach. Psychometrika 54: 247–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin, Charles H. (1989) Estimation across data sets: Two-stage auxiliary instrumental variables estimation (2SAIV). Political Analysis 1: 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giles, Michael W., and Marilyn K. Dantico (1982). Political participation and neighborhood social context revisited. American Journal of Political Science 26: 144–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawthorne, Michael R., and John E. Jackson (1987). The individual political economy of federal tax policy. American Political Science Review 81: 757–774.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgkinson, Virgina A. (1994). Civic participation in America: Volunteering and contributing. The Public Perspective 5: 14–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollis, Michael, and Bengt O. Muthèn (1987). Structural covariance models with categorical data: An illustration involving the measurement of political attitudes and belief systems. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, September 3–6, Chicago.

  • Huckfeldt, Robert, and John Sprague (1987). Networks in context: The social flow of political information. American Political Science Review 81: 1197–1216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huckfeldt, Robert, and John Sprague (1990). Social order and political chaos: The structural setting of political information. In John A. Ferejohn and James H. Kuklinski (eds.), Information and Democratic Processes. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huckfeldt, Robert, and John Sprague (1995). Citizens, Politics, and Social Communication: Information and Influence in an Election Campaign. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, Christopher B. (1992). Political participation and effects from the social environment. American Journal of Political Science 36: 259–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, Jae-On, and James Rabjohn (1980). Binary variables and index construction. Sociological Methodology 1980, pp. 120–159. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, Gary (1989). Unifying Political Methodology: The Likelihood Theory of Statistical Inference. Cambridge, New York, Port Chester, Melbourne, and Sydney: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knack, Stephen (1990). Why we don't vote—or say “thank you.” Wall Street Journal (31 December).

  • Knack, Stephen (1992a). Civic norms, social sanctions, and voter turnout. Rationality and Society 4: 133–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knack, Stephen (1992b). Social altruism and voter turnout: Evidence from the 1991 NES pilot study. Memorandum to the Board of Overseers of the National Election Studies.

  • Knack, Stephen (1992c). Social connectedness and voter participation: Evidence from the 1991 NES pilot study. Memorandum to the Board of Overseers of the National Election Studies.

  • Knack, Stephen (1993). “Social connectedness and voter turnout: Review and extensions. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association.

  • Krassa, Michael A. (1990). Political information, social environments, and deviants. Political Behavior 12: 315–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, Everett Carll (1994). Participating citizens in the individualist society. The Public Perspective 5: 13.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKuen, Michael, and Courtney Brown (1987). Political context and attitude change. American Political Science Review 81: 471–490.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCallum, B. T. (1972). Relative asymptotic bias from errors of omission and measurement. Econometrica 40: 757–758.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, Jack, Katie Daily, Zhongshi Guo, William Eveland, and Jan Bayer (1994). Investigating perceptions of crime as the most serious local issue: The effects of community and media use. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

  • Meehan, Eugene (1971). The Foundations of Political Analysis: Empirical and Normative. Homewood, IL: The Dorsey Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merriam, Charles Edward and Harold Foote Gosnell (1924). Non-Voting: Causes and Method of Control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Warren E. (1992). The puzzle transformed: Explaining declining turnout. Political Behavior 14: 1–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Warren E., Donald R. Kinder, Steven J. Rosenstone, and the National Election Studies (1993). American National Election Study, 1992: Pre-and Post-Election Survey [CPS Early Release Version]. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Center for Political Studies [Producer]; Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [Distributor].

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthèn, Bengt (1983). Latent variable structural equation modeling with categorical data. Journal of Econometrics 22: 43–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthèn, Bengt (1988). LISCOMP: Analysis of Linear Structural Equations with a Comprehensive Measurement Model, 2nd ed. Mooresville, IN: Scientific Software, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthèn, Bengt, and Charles Hofacker (1988). Testing the assumptions underlying tetrachoric correlations. Psychometrika 53: 563–577.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mutz, Diana C., Jeffrey J. Mondak, and Robert Huckfeldt (1994). The multi-level structure of economic evaluations. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

  • Nagler, Jonathan (1991). The effect of registration laws and education on U.S. voter turnout. American Political Science Review 85: 1393–1405.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niemi, Richard G., Stephen C. Craig, and Franco Mattei (1991). Measuring internal political efficacy in the 1988 National Election Study. American Political Science Review 85: 1407–1413.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomper, Gerald M., and Loretta Sernekos (1989). The “bake sale” theory of voting participation. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association.

  • Pomper, Gerald M., and Loretta Sernekos (1991). Bake sales and voting. Society 28: 10–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenstone, Steven J., and John Mark Hansen (1993). Mobilization, Participation and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saris, Willem E., Marius de Pijper, and Jan Mulder (1978). Optimal procedures for estimation of factor scores. Sociological Methods and Research 7: 85–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Squire, Peverill, Raymond E. Wolfinger, and David P. Glass (1987). Residential mobility and voter turnout. American Political Science Review 81: 45–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straits, Bruce C. (1990). The social context of voter turnout. Public Opinion Quarterly 54: 64–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taber, Charles S., and Richard J. Timpone (1996). Computational Modeling. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tate, Katherine (1993). From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections. New York, Cambridge, Mass., and London: Russell Sage Foundation and Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira, Ruy A. (1992). The Disappearing American Voter. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

    Google Scholar 

  • Timpone, Richard J. (1994). The American non-voter: Theory, structure, and behavior. Ph.D. dissertation. State University of New York at Stony Brook.

  • Timpone, Richard J. (in press). Structure, behavior and voter turnout in the United States. American Political Science Review.

  • Timpone, Richard J., and Charles S. Taber (1995). Out of a rut and onto the super-highway. The Political Methodologist 7(1): 10–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uhlaner, Carole J. (1989). Rational turnout: The neglected role of groups. American Journal of Political Science 33: 390–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verba, Sidney, and Norman H. Nie (1972). Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality. New York Evanston, San Francisco, and London: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady (1995). Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weatherford, M. Stephen (1982). Interpersonal networks and political behavior. American Journal of Political Science 26: 117–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickens, Michael R. (1972). A note on the use of proxy variables. Econometrica 40: 759–761.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilken, Paul H., and H. M. Blalock, Jr. (1981). The generalizability of indirect measures to complex situations: A fundamental dilemma. In George W. Bohrnstedt and Edgar F. Borgatta (eds.), Social Measurement: Current Issues. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Steven J. Rosenstone (1980). Who Votes? New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Timpone, R.J. Ties That Bind: Measurement, Demographics, and Social Connectedness. Political Behavior 20, 53–77 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024895116980

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024895116980

Keywords

Navigation