Political Pluralism and the Information Search: Determinants of Group Opinionation

• DOI: 10.1177/1065912909346742
• Published date: 01 March 2011
• Date: 01 March 2011
• Author: Paul A. Djupe
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly

64(1) 68 –81

© 2011 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912909346742

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Political Pluralism and the Information

Search: Determinants of Group

Opinionation

Paul A. Djupe1

Abstract

It is a necessary condition that people have an opinion about groups before they can use groups to help make sense

of the political world. Beyond individual resources and motivation, the strength of social ties and amount of agreement

within networks situated within more or less suppor tive social contexts affect whether individuals seek out and

receive information about groups sufficient to form an opinion of them. The author tests this argument with a sample

of Republican primary voters in order to address the implications for the place of interest groups in society and the

study of social interaction.

Keywords

opinionation, social networks, religion and politics, interest groups

If each citizen did not learn . . . to combine with his

fellow citizens for the purpose of defending [his

freedom], it is clear that tyranny would unavoid-

ably increase together with its equality.

Tocqueville (1840/1994, 106)

Tocqueville vests in associations the ability to maintain

the republic but notes that the choice to associate is an

individual’s and depends on society in some way to

motivate and capacitate that choice. Those addressing this

question of collective civic participation have grounded

their answers largely in capacity—the motivation and

resources largely gained through association (Putnam

2000; Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995). But citizens

need to know their options before pursuing association.

Therefore, the civic classroom must articulate not only

how to participate in political affairs but also what asso-

ciational opportunities exist. From Tocqueville’s point of

view, one key question is what motivates individuals to

learn about their associational opportunities?

In this article, I explore what I call group opinionation—

whether citizens make a judgment of their closeness to an

interest group or choose the “don’t know” (DK) option. A

point of access to the political system is knowing what

the associational options are. Before joining a group,

using the group as a heuristic (Brady and Sniderman

1985; Conover 1984), using a group endorsement (Lupia

1994; Rapoport, Stone, and Abramowitz 1991), or rely-

ing on group identity to mobilize political participation

(e.g., Miller et al. 1981), citizens must first have an opin-

ion of whether an interest group is likely to represent

their interests. Not knowing about the representativeness

of a group removes one powerful tool for understanding

the political world and taking meaningful part in political

processes. There are important individual-level explana-

tions of group opinionation, including disparities in

resources and motivation. However, I focus on how the

structure of social networks (whether they are tight-knit

or open, agreeable or disagreeable) within social contexts

like churches affects whether individuals seek out and

receive information about groups sufficient to form an

opinion of them.

The investigation of opinionation (also known as

opinion holding) has a long history (for a good, if dated,

review, see Krosnick and Milburn 1990) and need not

receive a comprehensive treatment here. It may be suffi-

cient to note that this literature has remained rooted in

1 Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Denison

University, Granville, OH, USA

Corresponding Author:

Paul A. Djupe, Department of Political Science, Denison University,

PO Box M, Granville, OH 43023, USA

E-mail: djupe@denison.edu