Mobilization, participation, and American democracy

Abstract

Rosenstone and Hansen’s (1993) treatise on the mobilizing effects of campaign activity and social interactions marks a turning point in scholarship on political participation. This essay looks back at this pivotal work and the experimental research agenda that emerged from it. Decades of subsequent research have reinforced and extended the book’s key claims about the role of mobilization in promoting voter turnout. Those who study elections now have a much clearer sense of which types of mobilization activities are effective and which types of voters respond to them.