The Effect of Neighborhood on Voting Behavior

Studies of the effects of memberships in social groups on people's tendencies to join particular parties and vote for particular candidates are abundant in the literature of political behavior. However, the effect of social interaction in the development of these tendencies has not received equal attention, although it is important to the more complete understanding of the effects of primary groups and of reference groups' on behavior. We should expect that the greater the exposure of an individual to other members of his own group, the greater the likelihood that they will serve as positive reference groups for his political behavior. This expectation is based on the belief that consistent exposure to the same influence has a reinforcing effect, while cross pressures from conflicting influences tend to neutralize each other.2 One area of contact with other people in which these ideas could be tested is the neighborhood. The effect of homogeneity of population in a precinct (or neighborhood) has been called the