1. Political Participation
Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

2. In this chapter you will:
Explore the longstanding paradox of America exhibiting strong and weak political participation
Learn the three types of participation: traditional politics, direct action, and civic engagement
Examine why people participate
Identify the benefits and drawbacks of an emerging “clickocracy” as political engagement moves online
Consider whether there can be too much popular participation in a democracy
CHAPTER 8: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

3. 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.
CHAPTER 8: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

4. How We Participate
Civic voluntarism is a form of engagement with public life that operates outside of government—but enhances democracy.
Direct action seeks immediate and sweeping change. It has a long legacy in the United States that goes back to the founding and includes some of the nation’s great reform movements.
CHAPTER 8: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

5. Why People Get Involved
Participation in politics and government is influenced by personal factors: background characteristics such as income and education; family, friends and social capital; political mobilization; and receiving government benefits from programs that treat beneficiaries with respect (like Social Security).
CHAPTER 8: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

6. Why People Get Involved
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 also is influenced by the larger social and historical context.
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7. 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.
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8. 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.
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9. New methods of participation are emerging online.
New Avenues for Participation: The Internet, Social Media and the Millennial Generation
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.
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10. Chapter Summary
Participation in civic and political life is a longstanding American tradition—helping, in the view of nineteenth-century visitors like Tocqueville, to distinguish the United States as a rising nation. Today, although Americans still exhibit higher levels of voluntarism than citizens of other countries, our rates of participation in politics and government have fallen to disturbing levels.
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11. Chapter Summary People participate in public life in three broad ways:
First, by participating through traditional political mechanisms: Voting, going to rallies, contributing to campaigns, contacting public officials.
A second mode of participation involves contributing to civil society through volunteering and getting involved in the community.
Third, Americans have been quick to get involved in direct action when traditional mechanisms seem unresponsive. This is the politics of demonstrations, protest movements, and even armed confrontations
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12. Chapter Summary
Whether someone engages in civic life depends on both personal factors—those with politically active family members and close friends, or with higher education levels, are more inclined to participate—and political context. During periodic outbursts of direct participation, many people who might ordinarily stay on the sidelines are drawn to participate.
Another key to this push–pull of participation: Americans simultaneously get involved in civic affairs, especially in their local communities, and express high dissatisfaction with U.S. government institutions. That dissatisfaction helps to drive down participation in direct political activity like voting.
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13. Chapter Summary
Millennials exemplify this tension: They engage in voluntary public service activities at record rates but tend to mistrust politics and government. They also increasingly connect with others through social media, a force that is transforming political participation in fast-evolving (and, for the most part, poorly understood) ways.
Mass engagement in politics and other civic activities is the lifeblood of American democracy, helping to explain why analysts are so anxious to expand participation.
CHAPTER 8: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION