Partisan Collective Identity: An Exploratory Study Using Focus Group Interviews

While party identification is one of the most used concepts for the explanation of vote choice, the contents of party identification and the collective identity of party adherents were never explored systematically. After conceptualizing party identification within the social identity approach, we propose a qualitative research framework for the analysis of the collective identity of party adherents. Finally, we use this framework to analyze the collective identity of adherents of the German (centre-)left parties. Although the parties are part of the same ideological camp, we found that they emphasize the importance of shared values, issues and goals as key components of collective identity, but differ when it comes to the importance of the myth of origin, customs and lifestyle aspects.