Group Consciousness and Political Participation

Abstract

This article explores the theoretical and methodological problems underlying the relationship between group consciousness and political participation with data from the Center for Political Studies (CPS) 1972 and 1976 National Election Studies. It delineates four conceptual components of group consciousness and examines their relationships with electoral and nonelectoral participation among both subordinate and dominant social groups. An interactive model fits both a theory of mobilization and the data far better than a linear, additive model.