The Ecology of Political Reform

Abstract

In several studies of political behavior in Chicago, Thomas Guterbock has identified “localism,” an affectual commitment to a bounded subcommunity, as the key sentiment generating electoral support for the Democratic organization. Localistic sentiment has been linked to pro-machine voting, Guterbock suggests, because the organization is perceived as the source of valuable support for maintaining the neighborhood. A replication of the Guterbock study in Memphis finds that localism, measured by the same aggregate indicators selected by Guterbock, was a strong predictor of support for the reformers who challenged the Crump machine in elections from 1948–1955. By the postwar era, it seems, the Memphis machine was losing the will and capacity to respond to demands for community development, thereby losing its standing as a valuable resource for the neighborhood patriots whose political choices were dictated by instrumental considerations. This finding underscores that the link between localism and political behavior depended upon the nature of the political alternatives available to the electorate.