This book investigates the causal relationship between group-based cross-pressures and the increasing volatility of electoral choices among voters over time. Ruth Dassonneville, a scholar specializing in comparative politics and electoral behavior, utilizes extensive empirical data to construct a framework that explains why individual voters shift their party preferences. The author argues that when individuals experience conflicting social or group-based pressures, their political loyalty becomes unstable, leading to higher rates of electoral volatility.

Experts in political science recognize this work as a rigorous contribution to the study of electoral instability and social group dynamics. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the systematic nature of the author's empirical methodology.