Chapter 8 Political Participation

How We Participate Traditional Participation involves engaging politics through formal government channels. Voting is the most familiar form of traditional political participation. Americans participate in politics year round. One in five contacts a public official in the course of a year. Civic voluntarism is a form of engagement with public life that operates outside of government – but enhances democracy. Direct Action seeks change by going outside the formal channels of government. It has a long legacy in the United States that goes back to the nation’s founding and includes some of the nation’s great reform movements.

Why People Get Involved Participation in politics and government is influenced by personal factors: background characteristics such as income and education, family and friends, political mobilization, and receiving government benefits from programs that treat beneficiaries with respect (like Social Security). Americans participate in political life at very different rates. A few engage passionately, a larger number are moderately engaged, and the majority of us are only sporadically involved. This contributes to the appearance of high and low participation in the United States. Political mobilization is also influenced by the larger social and historical context.

What Discourages Political Participation? Participation in civic life tends to vary by age, income level, and education. Several other factors have fueled a decline in Americans’ political participation in recent years. These include alienation, barriers to participation, complacency, and shifting mobilization patterns. The tendency to disengage is most pronounced among millennials, which includes most college students today.

New Avenues For Participation: The Internet, Social Media, and the Millennial Generation The Internet, and especially social media, has launched a revolution that is changing the way Americans participate politically. An emerging age of activism and connection may refresh American democracy—or troubling developments may diminish it. New methods of participation are emerging online. Millennials participate in these new methods, but are less likely to vote, belong to a party, or get involved in traditional politics.