The In\'s And Out\'s Of Political Participation

10 Pages 2557 Words

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There are several reasons why citizens do not participate. Looking at this problem beyond the reasons of some citizens’ deed participation important while others do not, moves one to believe that there are other defacto discriminating factors and or inequalities that play a part in citizens participating in their government. After realizing these factors, it becomes obvious that there are mechanisms that increase inequalities and mechanisms that decrease inequalities. A mechanism that increases inequalities is socio-economic-status (SES). The average person would not understand how SES could help determine why some citizens participate and others do not however, Rosenstone and Hansen agree that class places a certain degree of uneven participation in the government. They state, “The wealthiest 5% of the population constitute 17% of the financial contributors to campaigns, but the poorest 16% constitute only 4%. The index of equality- at .08- indicates an extraordinary degree of class bias participation.” (RH pg.237-238) This indicates that the higher a citizen is on the SES scale the more likely they will be able to participate. The logic in this indication is that people who are higher on the SES scale possess resources such as income, education, and civic skills, which have a great impact on participation.

Cole defines SES as, “Attitudes that motivate people to be politically active.” (Cole 9-25-01) Having a large income gives a citizen the opportunity and the resources to support their governmental institution, and by supporting their governmental institution they are participating in their government. Those who have steady incomes are able to give donations to help causes that they support as well as give donations to help stop those causes that they do not support. We know that politicians give great recognition to those constituents who back their support with fina...