Party Identification in Germany: An Empirical Foundation of the Concept Based on the Theory of Social Identity

Dieter Ohr / Markus Quandt, Party Identification in Germany: An Empirical Foundation of the Concept Based on the Theory of Social Identity, pp. 179-202. Referring to the theory of social identity, we seek to specify the empirical foundations of the concept of party identification. For the concept of social identity with regard to a political party we develop an operationalization on the basis of a representative sample of East and West German voters (surveyed in 2005). An affective dimension of social identity can be measured with good internal consistency. Moreover, the indicators for social identity are systematically related to the intensity of party identification, as well as to external measures, such as political interest. Our empirical analyses indicate that social identity with regard to a party may in fact be one of the foundations of party identification in Germany.