Voting behavior as social action: Habits, norms, values, and rationality in electoral participation

Becker, Rolf (2022). Voting behavior as social action: Habits, norms, values, and rationality in electoral participation. Rationality and society, 35(1), pp. 81-109. Sage Publications 10.1177/10434631221142733

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The aim of the study is to contribute, theoretically and empirically, to an
improved understanding of the social processes and mechanisms generating
a citizen’s decisions regarding electoral participation. It seeks to contribute
to a solution for the legendary paradox of electoral participation based on
formalized social-psychological dual process theories by integrating the
Weberian typology of rationalities and related social action into a comprehensive
explanation of voter turnout. The empirical analysis, based on
two German surveys carried out in 1998 and 2017, reveals that the instrumentally
rational voting (purposively rational action) emphasized in the
classic rational choice theories used in economic electoral research is rather
a special case among modal types of action such as habitual voting (traditional
action), norm-related voting (norm-guided action), and voting due to value
rationality (value-rational action). Most voters vote out of habit and based on
norms and values, while purely purposive-rational voting is more of a special
case.

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