Curvilinear disparity

In political science, the special law of curvilinear disparity or May's Law is a theory conceived in 1973 by political scientist John D. May in his publication Opinion Structure of Political Parties.[1] The theory posits that the rank and file members of a political party tend to be more ideologically extreme than both the leadership of that party and its voters.[2] May contends that politically active people can be classified into three major strata or echelons according to their relative status within a party; party elite, middle-elite, and non-elite. Members of each divergent strata have contrasting motivations for being politically active and calibrate their ideological stances to differing extents as a result.[3]

  1. ^ May, John D. (June 1973). "Opinion Structure of Political Parties: The Special Law of Curvilinear Disparity". Political Studies. 21 (2): 135–151. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.1973.tb01423.x. ISSN 0032-3217. S2CID 146137982.
  2. ^ John D. May (1973), 'Opinion Structure of Political Parties: The Special Law of Curvilinear Disparity', Political Studies Volume 21 Issue 2, Pages 135 - 151
  3. ^ Magnus Hagevi, Karl Loxbo. "Partierna och demokratin efter medlemsnedgången" (PDF). Archived from the original on 2021-07-29. Retrieved 2021-07-29. researchgate.net, december 2015.