Industrialization and Two-Party Democracy

Authors

  • Eric M. Mackey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.1991.12.0.100-112

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of industrial change on partisan transitions in the American South. Using aggregate data from the decennial censes from 1940 to 1980 and aggregate election returns for roughly this same period, the primary finding is a weak and often contradictory bivariate relationship between industrial employment and partisan support in the South. The results were usually much worse for a typical economic development thesis when the dependent and independent variables were operationalized dynamically and when presidential voting and congressional voting were analyzed separately. Overall, the evidence in this paper does not suggest that the Republican party is necessarily or often a beneficiary of industrialization. Neither does it speak well for the possibility of pursuing industrial development as a means of promoting partisan democracy in the South or any other geopolitical context.

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Published

1991-11-01

Issue

Vol. 12: Autumn 1991

Section

Articles

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