Based on a meta-theoretical analysis of voting, the present paper is an attempt to present a theoretical model encompassing all the possible aspects of voting in an election action system, proposing four sub-systems of voting as follows: economic voting, political voting, cultural voting and moral voting. Having distinguished among these sub-systems, the writer describes the constitutive elements and the structural requirements of each sub-system. Based on this model, the decisive element that affects the decision to vote for economic, political, cultural and moral reasons is utility, effectiveness, lack of inconsistency and normative consistency respectively. The prominence of each sub-system in the election action system is determined based on the structural requirements. When welfare resources are lacking and there is a distribution inequality, the economic voting becomes more necessary. When the government lacks efficiency, there is a stronger need for political voting. When the society is faced with cultural problems, voting with a cultural purpose becomes a necessity. Finally, when the society is faced with no cultural-political inconsistency, the necessity to vote for moral reasons becomes stronger. Considering the mutual relations among the sub-systems, the most important methodological consideration in the application of this model is an emphasis on the structural causality and causal circles (as opposed to one-sided or mechanical causality), and the use of structural functions in the analysis of the related experimental data.
Keywords: vote choice, space of election action, election action system |
