This chapter focuses on political participation in its various forms. It highlights voting as the most common form of political activity, examining factors that affect voter turnout. Political participation involves other activities in addition to voting, such as joining political parties and interest groups, writing to elected officials, demonstrating for political causes, and giving money to political candidates. Citizen participation is an important component of democratic societies and needs to be encouraged. This chapter explains differences in the extent of political participation among various American groups and compares America's participation patterns with citizens in other Western democracies.
Major points made in this chapter are the following:
- Voter turnout in U.S. elections is low compared with other democratic nations. The reasons for this difference include the nature of U.S. election laws, particularly those pertaining to registration.
- Most citizens do not participate actively in politics in ways other than voting. Only a small proportion of Americans can be classified as political activists.
- Most Americans make a sharp distinction between their personal lives and national life. This attitude reduces their incentive to participate and contributes to a pattern of participation dominated by citizens with higher levels of income and education.
After reading this chapter students should be able to:
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