Neoliberal parties replaced mass-member pressure with marketing to atomized voters

Evidence

Parties came up with two survival tactics in their neoliberal ice age. The first was an increased investment in “public relations”—an industry which mushroomed at the same time as the finance industry, heavily reliant on the same conjectures, speculation, and guesswork. The second was a separation between politics and policy and an increased transfer of power to technocratic bodies. Like any beauty contest, the financial economy dealt in illusion and make-believe. … Rather than rallying thousands of supporters and members in large institutions—members who could also pressure politicians at conferences and meetings—it was smarter to treat the electorate as a black box that could be uncovered a posteriori. Everyone and no one became a potential voter; sociology was traded for public relations. The public’s wishes and demands could now be gauged by a professional marketing department. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 144

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Hollowing-out of party politics and to Carey’s work on party membership vs. opinion polling as rival legitimacy mechanisms. — connects to: Democratic politics has merged with commercial product marketing; Hollowed parties replaced member pressure with polling and consultancy. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 130; Member-heavy parties get locked into orthodox stances that alienate the broader electorate — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 687 (+1 more)
• QUESTION: Is there data linking the decline of party membership rolls specifically to PR/consultancy spend in the 1980s-90s?

Broader Connections

• Hollowed parties replaced member pressure with polling and consultancy. #corroborates (0.95) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 130
• Democratic politics has merged with commercial product marketing #corroborates (0.82)
• Member-heavy parties get locked into orthodox stances that alienate the broader electorate #qualifies (0.75) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 687