Political Participation and Voting

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 2 Democracy and Political Participation Political participation: the actions of private citizens seeking to influence or support government and politics –Conventional participation: relatively routine behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture –Unconventional participation: relatively uncommon political behavior that challenges or defies established institutions and dominant norms

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 3 Unconventional Participation Unconventional participation is stressful and occasionally violent Support for Unconventional Participation –U.S. has a long history of unconventional participation beginning with the Boston Tea Party –Americans tend to disapprove of unconventional participation –Americans strongly disapprove of unconventional participation that disrupts daily life

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 4 Unconventional Participation The Effectiveness of Unconventional Participation –Unconventional participation has been successful Vietnam-era activism Civil rights activism –Direct action: involves assembling crowds to confront businesses and local governments to demand a hearing

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 5 Unconventional Participation Unconventional participation appeals to people who: –Distrust the political system –Have a strong sense of political efficacy –Have a highly developed sense of group consciousness Unconventional Participation in America and the World –Americans are about as likely to take direct action in politics as citizens of European democracies

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 6 What Americans Think is Unconventional Political Behavior

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 7 Conventional Participation A test of the democratic nature of any government is whether citizens can affect its policies by acting through institutions. If people must operate outside governmental institutions to influence policymaking, the system is not democratic

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 8 Conventional Participation The objective of democratic institutions is to make political participation conventional—to allow ordinary citizens to engage in relatively routine, non-threatening behavior to get the government to heed their opinions, interests and needs Supportive behaviors: action that expresses allegiance to government and country

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 9 Conventional Participation Influencing behaviors: behaviors that seek to modify or reverse government policy to serve political interests –Influencing behaviors may be used to secure particular benefits Approaching government to serve one’s particular interests is consistent with democratic theory “Contacting behavior” may not necessarily be related to other forms of participation such as voting, Particularized participation is more common among higher SES citizens Particularized participation may serve private interests to the detriment of the majority Citizens demand more of local government

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 10 Conventional Participation Influencing behaviors –Influencing behaviors may be used to influence broad policy objectives May be activities that influence selection of government personnel and policies May or may not be associated with electoral process May be low or high initiative

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 11 Conventional Participation May involve the courts through the class action suit: a legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances Conventional Participation in America –Voting turnout: the percentage of eligible voters who actually vote in a given election –Americans vote at lower rates that people in other democracies –Americans engage in other forms of participation at the same, or higher rates, than people in other democracies…with high and low levels of initiative

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 12 Participating Through Voting Most common form of political behavior in democracies: voting for candidates Expansion of Suffrage in the United States –Enfranchisement of Blacks –Enfranchisement of women –Enfranchisement of younger voters (ages 18-20)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 13 Voter Registration in the South, 1960, 1980, and 2000

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 14 Participation Through Voting –Progressivism: a philosophy of political reform based upon the goodness and wisdom of the individual citizen –Progressives championed: The direct primary: a preliminary election, run by the state governments, in which the voters choose the party’s candidates for the general election The recall: an election to remove officials from elective office The referendum: allowed a direct vote by the people on either a proposed law or an amendment to a state constitution. The initiative: is a procedure by which voters can propose an issue to be decided by the legislature or by the people in a referendum; requires gathering a specified number of signatures and submitting a petition to a designated agency

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 15 Participation Through Voting Voting for Candidates –Allows citizens to choose who best serves their interests –Only two officeholders chosen nationally; most electing done on local level

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 16 Explaining Political Participation Patterns of participation actually show little variation over time in the percentage of citizens who worked for candidates or attended party meetings –Interest in election campaigns and persuading people how to vote have actually tended to increase. –But voter turnout has declined over time. –The major issue is not turnout, but registration (those who are registered vote at higher rates than those who are eligible)

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 17 Political Participation Apathy is not the only cause of nonregistration –A–Apathy lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 18 Political Participation Apathy is not the only cause of nonregistration a)Registration has costs in the U.S. b) Motor-voter law of 1993 took effect in 1995

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 22 Explaining Political Participation The standard socioeconomic model: a relationship between socioeconomic status and conventional political involvement; people with higher status and more education are more likely to participate than those with lower status –Education is the strongest factor in explaining most types of political participation

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 23 Effects of Education on Political Participation

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 24 Explaining Political Participation Low Voter Turnout The Decline in Voting Over Time –26 th Amendment expanded the electorate by lowering the voting age to 18 But young people are the least likely to vote Probably accounts for 1-2% of the decline in voter turnout –Decreasing faith in the effectiveness of voting

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.7 | 25 Explaining Political Participation U.S. Turnout vs. Turnout in Other Countries –Turnout is low because of voting laws and administrative machinery Election day is not a public holiday Burden of registration is on the voter –Lack of political parties to mobilize particular social groups –Learning about the scores of candidates on the ballot is daunting