title: Politicization during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections: bridging the personal and the political through an identity content approach.
abstract: We investigated U.S. citizens' politicization (i.e., switching from not self-defining to self-defining as an active political party supporter) during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Elections. We used a novel identity content approach to explore qualitative changes in overlap between personal and politicized identity traits. We collected longitudinal data from a community sample of U.S. citizens (N = 760), tracking whether and how personal and politicized identity content developed: two months before (T1), immediately before (T2), and 2 months after (T3) the election. We explored a subsample of participants who met inclusion criteria (n = 115), comparing 87 participants who did not politicize with 28 participants who self-labeled as unpoliticized at T1, but politicized at T2/T3. Results confirmed hypotheses: Only politicizers showed greater integration between their personal and politicized identity content over time; moreover, identity content was a significant positive predictor of politicization and action engagement. We discuss the value of identity content for politicization research.
authors: University of Groningen, The Netherlands f.m.turner@rug.nl.
authors: Felicity
authors: F
authors: Turner-Zwinkels
authors: University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Martijn
authors: M
authors: van Zomeren
authors: University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Tom
authors: T
authors: Postmes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011057:Politics; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: collective action; elections; identification; identity content; politicization