A Constructivist Theory of Place-Based Identities

• In Event: The Importance of Place and Identity in Public Opinion & Political Behavior

Abstract

The role of place in opinion formation is much maligned. Skeptics argue that the significance of place on political opinion formation often obfuscates other mechanisms such as partisanship, racism, economic anxiety, or class. Recently, theories of American political behavior argue that even if subnational identities matter, it is subsumed in importance compared to nationalism. This evidence rarely considers the role of community. When scholars do consider community, they find that it has a profound impact on people’s preferences for redistribution and that in rural place, the impact of one’s attachment to place impacts their opinion formation in a broad array of policy arenas. The question that arises from these disparate findings is clear: What role do people’s local community identities play in their opinion formation as political behavior nationalizes? I argue that when we consider place-based identities in a combinatorial set, we gather a deeper understanding of how subnational identities interact in an individual’s “operative identity set” to help explain how subnational identities have a unique impact on opinion formation. Using simulations of the 2016 presidential election and other electoral outcomes, I illustrate that place exhibits a unique impact on election outcomes that is understood through my combinatorial theory of place-based identity.

Author

• Charles Conyers Harpole, The Ohio State University