Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T14:00:19.432Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Citizen Activity: Who Participates? What Do They Say?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Sidney Verba ,
Kay Lehman Schlozman ,
Henry Brady  and
Norman H. Nie
Sidney Verba
Affiliation:
Harvard University
Kay Lehman Schlozman
Affiliation:
Boston College
Henry Brady
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Norman H. Nie
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We use responses to a large-scale national survey designed to oversample political activists to investigate the extent to which participant publics are representative of the public as a whole. Building upon the finding that while voters differ from nonvoters in their demographic attributes, their attitudes as measured by responses to survey questions are not distinctive, we consider a variety of political acts beyond voting that citizens can use to multiply their political input and to communicate more precise messages to policymakers. In addition, we consider not only respondents' demographic characteristics and policy attitudes but also their circumstances of economic deprivation and dependence upon government programs. Although activists are representative of the public at large in terms of their attitudes, they differ substantially in their demographic attributes, economic needs, and the government benefits they receive. Furthermore, in terms of the issues that animate participation, groups differentiated along these lines bring very different policy concerns to their activity.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 303 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achen, Christopher. 1977. “Measuring Representation: The Perils of the Correlation Coefficient.” American Journal of Political Science 21:805–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachrach, Peter. 1967. The Theory of Democratic Elitism. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin. 1984. Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bennett, Stephen Earl, and Bennett, Linda L. M.. 1986. “Political Participation.” Annual Review of Political Science 1986:157–204.Google Scholar
Bennett, Stephen Earl, and Resnick, David. 1990. “Implications of Nonvoting for Democracy in the United States.” American Journal of Political Science 34:771–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullock, Charles S., and Brady, David W.. 1983. “Party, Constituency, and Roll-Call Voting in the Senate.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 8:29–43.Google Scholar
Calvert, Jerry, and Gilchrist, Jack. 1991. “The Social and Issue Dimensions of Voting and Nonvoting in the United States.” Presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Conway, M. Margaret. 1991. Political Participation in the United States. 2d ed.Washington: Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S., and Wright, Gerald C.. 1989. “Voters, Candidates, and Issues in Congressional Elections.” In Congress Reconsidered, 4th ed., ed. Dodd, Lawrence C. and Oppenheim, Bruce I.. Washington: Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Eulau, Heinz, and Karps, Paul D.. 1977. “The Puzzle of Representation: Specifying the Components of Responsiveness.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 2:233–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. Jr., 1978. Home Style: House Members and Their Districts. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Huddleston, Louise. 1984. “The Influence of Constituency Opinions on Representatives: A Study of the 1980 Congress.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Jackson, John S. III, Brown, J. C., and Bositis, David. 1982. “Herbert McClosky and Friends Revisited: 1980 Democratic and Republican Elites Compared to the Mass Public.” American Politics Quarterly 10:158–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, John S. III, Brown, J. C., and Brown, Barbara Leavitt. 1978. “Recruitment, Representation, and Political Values: The 1976 Democratic National Convention Delegates.” American Politics Quarterly 6:187–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkpatrick, Jeanne. 1976. The New Presidential Elite. New York: Russell Sage Foundation and Twentieth Century Fund.Google Scholar
McFarland, Andrew S. 1992. “Interest Groups and the Policymaking Process: Sources of Countervailing Power.” In The Politics of Interests, ed. Petracca, Mark P.. Boulder: Westview.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane J. 1980. Beyond Adversary Democracy. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Markus, Gregory B. 1974. “Electoral Coalitions and Senate Roll Call Behavior.” American Journal of Political Science 18:595–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhew, David R. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Lester W., and Goel, M. L.. 1977. Political Participation. 2d ed.Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Miller, Warren E., and Jennings, M. Kent. 1986. Parties in Transition: A Longitudinal Study of Party Elites and Party Supporters. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Parry, Geraint. 1972. “The Idea of Political Participation.” In Participation in Politics, ed. Parry, Geraint. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Pateman, Carole. 1970. Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitkin, Hanna. 1967. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranney, Austin. 1975. Curing the Mischiefs of Faction. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salisbury, Robert H. 1991. “Putting Interests Back into Interest Groups.” In Interest Group Politics, ed. Cigler, Allan J. and Loomis, Burdett A.. Washington: Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Schaffer, Stephen. 1982. “Policy Differences Between Voters and Non-voters in American Elections.” Western Political Quarterly 35:496–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The Semisovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.Google Scholar
Schlozman, Kay Lehman, and Tierney, John T.. 1986. Organized Interests and American Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, and Nie, Norman H.. 1972. Participation in America. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Rosenstone, Steven J.. 1980. Who Votes? New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar