Participation: Political

Abstract

Political participation refers to voluntary activities undertaken by the mass public to influence public policy, either directly or by affecting the selection of persons who make policies. Examples of these activities include voting in elections, helping a political campaign, donating money to a candidate or cause, contacting officials, petitioning, protesting, and working with other people on issues. Particular activities cluster into modes of participation. Substantial cross-national data has shown that wealthier and better-educated people participate at higher rates than the less advantaged, although this relationship is weaker in countries where strong parties or other political organizations provide alternative resources. Research associated with the Civic Voluntarism Model has documented that people transfer to political activity skills which they acquire in organizations. The Civic Voluntarism Model and other recent studies have also demonstrated that people participate more in response to recruitment or mobilization. (Both terms refer to efforts by one person to increase the activity of another.) The Political Action project has shown that people have expanded their ‘political action repertory’ to encompass both protest and conventional participation. The patterns of participation in authoritarian regimes and in economically less-developed countries raise other issues but substantially follow these broad outlines.