Everyday Identity and Electoral Politics

In Everyday Identity and Electoral Politics, Adam S. Harris explores how social identities, such as ethnicity and race, influence politics, economic development, and voting behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing upon original survey data, interviews, focus groups, and participant observations, Harris conceptualizes a theory of identity construction that both predicts differences in vote choice and theorizes how the identity construction process shapes differential outcomes in vote choice within ethnic groups. It is one of the first studies that directly links the every-day ethnic identity construction process with voting behavior, and it is the first to do so using a continuous conceptualization of ethnicity (i.e., one capable of shifting over time).