Mobilized or Civic Minded

Abstract

Using Hong Kong as a case study, this article addresses whether senior citizens are rational in their voting behavior, whether they are mobilized by political parties to participate in elections, and whether they are enabled or constrained in fulfilling their political responsibilities and asserting their political rights. The findings of a recent study were presented to examine the extent to which senior citizens’political participation is determined by rationality, political knowledge, political mobilization, and constraint and enabling factors. Seven composite scales measuring senior citizens’ political participation, sense of civic-mindedness, self-interest orientation, political knowledge, political mobilization, and constraining and enabling factors were constructed and validated in the study. Statistical analyses show that political knowledge, political mobilization, and enabling factors were most influential in affecting senior citizens’level of political participation. The article also compares the responses of elderly persons who are members of senior centers with those of ordinary senior citizens.