ABSTRACT
Party organizations must keep their volunteer activists engaged and enthusiastic. People become involved in organizations of all kinds, from party organizations to dance marathons, for three types of reasons. Purposive incentives refer to the sense of satisfaction people feel when promoting an issue or cause that matters to them. Issue-driven party activism has shaped politics at all levels. In the 2020 state and local elections, many Democrats were propelled into activism by reports that police officers had violated black Americans’ rights, and many Republicans urged others to vote to restore law and order in cities experiencing protests against racial injustice. The American parties once offered a lot of material incentives for party work. Early in the life of the American republic and for more than a century afterward, people were attracted to party work by the prospect of being rewarded with government jobs if the party won.
