The Political Incorporation of the Newly Enfranchised Voter: Organizational Encapsulation and Socialist Labor Party Development
| Author | E. Spencer Wellhofer |
| Date | 01 September 1981 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591298103400307 |
| Published date | 01 September 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
THE
POLITICAL
INCORPORATION
OF
THE
NEWLY
ENFRANCHISED
VOTER:
ORGANIZATIONAL
ENCAPSULATION
AND
SOCIALIST
LABOR
PARTY
DEVELOPMENT
E.
SPENCER
WELLHOFER
University
of
Denver
NE
OF THE
most
intriguing
problems
in
the
evolution
of
liberal
democracies is
their transformation from
limited franchise
regimes
~~~
to
mass
suffrage
polities.
The
dynamics
of
the
problem
and
its
con-
sequences
can
be
summarized
as
follows:
Suffrage
expansion
and
political
mobilization
coincided
with
social
mobilization
resulting
from
urbanization
and
industrialization.
As
social
and
economic
grievances
became
political,
pressures
for
suffrage
expansion
increased.’
These
demands
set
in
motion
an
&dquo;intriguing
process
of
historical
dialectics.&dquo;2
The
extension
of
suffrage
increased
greatly
the
potential
for
polarization
in
society,
but
enfranchise-
ment
also
facilitated
an
organizational
proliferation
which
reduced
polariza-
tion
by
generating
a
myriad
of
cross-pressures.
This
long-term
process
nar-
rowed
alternatives
in
politics,
fragmented
interest
organizations,
and
re-
duced
the
importance
of
electoral
contests.
The
result
was
a
lowering
of
political
participation,
the
alienation
of
major
segments
of
the
citizenry,
and
the
limitation
of
policy
formulation
to
the
bargaining
process
of
major
inter-
est
organizations,
parties,
and
the
bureaucracy.
An
analysis
of
the
dynamics
of
the
political
incorporation
of
the
new-
ly
enfranchised
citizenry
into
national
political
life
is
important
to
our
un-
derstanding
the
transition
to
mass
politics
and
the
stability
of
democratic
institutions.
For
most
limited
franchise
regimes
the
transition
to
mass
suffrage
oc-
curred
in
the
period
beginning
about
1860
and
terminating
about
1920
with
secret,
universal
suffrage
for
both
males
and
females.
Major
exceptions
to
this
generalization
included:
Italy,
where
female
suffrage
did
not
come
until
1947;
Britain,
which
maintained
a
system
of
plural
voting
until
1948;
and
Belgium,
where
full
universal
suffrage
was
not
achieved
until
1949.
Yet,
the
years
from
1860
to
1920
mark
a
period
of the
mobilization
of
the
econom-
ically
dependent,
lower
stratum
into
West
European
politics.3
The
extension
of
citizen
rights
to
the
lower
stratum
facilitated
the
growth
of
two
predominant
interest
organizations:
economic
in
the
form
of
trade
unions,
and
political
in
the
form
of
political
parties,
often
socialist;
and
the
two
were
intimately
linked
in several
instances.
The
political
incorpora-
tion
of
the
newly
enfranchised
was
aided
by
the
organizational
efforts
of
these
interest
organizations.
The
following
analysis
examines
the
political
incorporation
of
the
newly
enfranchised
voter
in
Britain,
Norway,
Sweden,
and
Argentina
through
the
organizational
efforts
of
Socialist-Labor
parties.
It
is
argued
that
at
the
time
of
suffrage
expansion
the
previously
disenfranchised
were
largely
nonparti-
1
R.
Bendix,
Nation-Building
and
Citizenship
(New
York:
Doubleday,
1969),
pp.
74-86.
2 S.
Rokkan,
"The
Comparative
Study
of
Political
Participation:
Notes
toward
a
Perspective
on
Current
Research,"
in
A.
Ranney,
Essays
on
the
Behavioral
Study
of
Politics
(Urbana:
Univer-
sity
of
Illinois
Press,
1962),
pp.
89-90.
3
Rokkan,
ibid.,
also
"Electoral
Systems,"
in
S.
Rokkan
with
A.
Campbell,
P.
Torsvik
and
H.
Valen,
Citizens,
Elections,
Parties
(New
York:
David
McKay,
1970),
pp.
147-68.
400
san.4
Following
suffrage
expansion,
Socialist-Labor
parties
through
a
process
termed
organizational
encapsulation
sought
to
mold
the
newly
enfranchised
into
party
supporters.
Electoral
support
for
Socialist-Labor
parties
is
related
to
party
organizational
efforts
employing
a
modified
Cobb-Douglas
produc-
tion
function.
The
organization
of
the
newly
enfranchised
lower
statum
produced
the
&dquo;mass
party,&dquo;
as
Max
Weber
termed
the
new
organizations.
The
occasion
for
this
development
was
the
democratization
of
franchise.
In
order
to
win
the
masses,
it
became
necessary
to
call
into
being
a
tremendous
apparatus
of
apparently
democratic
associations.
An
electoral
association
had
to
be
formed
in
every
city
district
to
help
keep
the
organization
inces-
santly
in
motion
and
to
bureaucratize
everything
rigidly.5
5
With
the
extension
of
franchise,
organization
became
necessary
to
mobilize
and
channel
the
vote.
But
the
political
economy
of
organization
varied with
the
social
strata.
For
upper
and
middle
strata
political
compe-
tence
and
participation
are
outgrowths
of other
activities.
But
for
the
lower
stratum,
participation
depended
upon
strong
organizations
to
provide
en-
trepreneurial
and
participatory
incentives.&dquo;
Thus
for
the
newly
enfranch-
ised,
but
less
politically
competent,
lower
stratum
the
creation
of
organiza-
tions
was
essential
for
generating
leadership
and
delivering
the
vote
in
order
to
win
electoral
contests.
The
parties
which
emerged
among
the
lower
stratum
pursued
a
variety
or
organizational
tactics,
but
the
general
strategy
was
one
of
&dquo;organizational
encapsulation&dquo;
designed
to
produce
a
&dquo;commu-
nity
of
fate.&dquo;
ORGANIZATIONAL
ENCAPSULATION:
CREATING
&dquo;COMMUNITIES
OF
FATE&dquo;
With
the
extension
of
suffrage
to
the
lower
stratum,
the
mobilization
of
the
vote
became
possible,
but
not
necessarily
predictable.
That
is,
since
suf-
4
We,
of
course,
do
not
have
survey
research
for
voters
during
the
growth
periods
of
these
parties,
but
we
do
have
age
cohort
data
on
the
recalled
party
identification
of
the
respon-
dents’
fathers
and
these
data
clearly
indicate
that
an
important
segment
of
British
Labour
party
supporters
during
the
period
of
the
party’s
rapid
growth
came
from
nonpartisan
homes:
see
D.
Butler
and
D.
Stokes,
Political
Change
in
Britain
(New
York:
St.
Martin’s,
1969),
pp.
254-63.
While
cohort
analysis
is
not
available
for
Norway,
data
on
age
and
voting
intention
show
a
considerable
decline
in
Labor
party
support
for
those
over
60
years
of
age
in
1957.
That
is,
among
voters
who
entered
political
life
under
the
two-party
system
(1884-1918)
with
limited
suffrage
and
prior
to
the
electoral
reforms
of
1920,
support
for
the
Labor
party
is
lower.
But
for
those
entering
political
life
after
1920
support
for
the
Labor
party
is
consistent
regardless
of
age.
Moreover,
those
who
entered
political
life
prior
to
1920
tend
to
support
the
Liberal
and
Conservative
parties:
see
H.
Valen
and
D.
Katz,
Political
Parties
in
Norway
(Oslo:
Universitetsforlaget,
1967),
p.
157.
While
these
data
are
not
as
strong
as
the
cohort
analysis
for
Britain,
they
lend
support
to
the
same
conclusion:
both
parties
tended
to
recruit
among
the
newly
enfranchised
electo-
rate
who
were
products
of
nonpartisan
families.
For
Sweden
the
best
available
analysis
would
support
the
nonpartisanship
of
the
lower
strata:
see
L.
Lewin,
B.
Jansson
and
D.
Sorborn,
The
Swedish
Electorate,
1887-1968
(Stockholm:
Almquist
and
Wiksell,
1972),
pp.
46-49, 276-80.
5 M.
Weber,
"Politics
as
a
Vocation,"
in
H.
H.
Gerth
and
C.
W.
Mills,
eds.,
From
Max
Weber:
Essays
in
Sociology
(New
York:
Oxford
University
Press,
1969),
p.
105.
6
S.
H.
Barnes,
"Party
Democracy
and
the
Logic
of
Collective
Action,"
in
W.
J.
Crotty,
Approaches
to
the
Study
of
Party
Organization
(Boston:
Allyn
and
Bacon,
1968),
pp.
111-12;
also
see
M.
Olson,
Jr.,
The
Logic
of
Collective
Action:
Public
Goods
and
the
Theory
of
Groups
(New
York:
Schockin,
1960);
N.
Frohlich,
J.
A.
Oppenheimer
and
O.
R.
Young,
Political
Leadership
and
Collective
Goods
(Princeton:
Princeton
University
Press,
1971),
and
N.
H.
Nie,
G.
B.
Powell,
Jr.,
and
K.
Prewitt,
"Social
Structure
and
Political
Participation:
Developmental
Relation-
ships,"
in
J.
L.
Finkle
and
R.
W.
Gable,
eds.,
Political
Development
and
Social
Change
(New
York:
Wiley,
1971),
pp.
406-30.
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