Chapter 7
PARTICIPATION
AND VOTING
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Democracy & Political Participation

Democratic ideal is “government run by the people”

Difficulty lies with definitions of how much and what
kind of participation needed
 Direct democracy versus democracy carried out by
representatives

Elections are necessary for democracy, but do
not ensure democracy
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Political Participation
 All citizen activities that attempt to
INFLUENCE government’s structure,
selection of officials, or policies
 Conventional participation
 Unconventional participation
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Unconventional Participation
 Can range from protest marches to
terrorist activities
 “Bloody Sunday” March from Selma, AL, to Montgomery, AL in
1965
 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City’s Federal Building by Timothy
McVeigh
 Terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. on
September 11, 2001
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Unconventional Participation
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Support for
Unconventional Participation

Boston Tea Party in 1773 first of many violent
protests

Most Americans not willing to participate in
unconventional political activities

Sometimes difficult to define which activities fall
under heading of “unconventional political
participation”
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Figure 7.1
What Americans Think Is
Conventional Behavior
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The Effectiveness
of Unconventional Participation

Unconventional participation is not always successful, even
when violent

Direct action appeals most to persons who distrust the
political system and have a strong sense of political efficacy

Participation also depends on an individual’s
group consciousness

Americans about as likely to participate as citizens of other
nations
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The Effectiveness of
Unconventional Participation
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Conventional Participation

Practical test for democracy: can citizens influence
policies by acting through its institutions?

Two major categories for conventional participation:
1) Supportive behavior
2) Influencing behavior
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Compared with What? Popular
Participation in Politics
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Supportive Behavior
 Actions that express allegiance to
country and government
 Require various levels of effort
 Sometimes actions an individual sees as
supportive actually suppress democracy
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Influencing Behavior

Some types of behavior seek benefits; others
have broad policy objectives

Particular benefits - those that benefit self,
immediate family, or friends
 Very common at local level, especially “contacting
behavior;” may require little initiative
 More common with those of higher socioeconomic status
 Sometimes done quietly
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Influencing Behavior continued…
 Campaign contributions also on this list
Broad Policy Objectives – activities that influence
selection of government officials and policies
 Also require different levels of initiative
 Voting, running for office, holding meetings,
working on campaigns, attending hearings, or
using the court system
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The Twitter Revolution
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Influencing Behavior

Citizens who want to participate can do so
via the Internet
 Comment on proposed rules and regulations at the Federal Register
site: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/
 Track economic stimulus funds at:
http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx
 View congressional voting records: http://www.govtrack.us/ or
http://www.thomas.gov/
 Many other political sites available for wide range of interests
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Influencing Behavior
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Conventional Participation in America
 Usually only those with a stake in the outcome
take initiative to participate in Congressional or
administrative hearings

Most common form of political behavior is voting
 Rate of voting is voter turnout
 U.S. voter turnout low compared to other
industrialized democracies
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Participating Through Voting

Electoral process heart of democratic government

Rules for suffrage, or franchise, and rules for
counting ballots and electoral systems define
process
 Who can vote
 How much each vote counts
 How many votes needed to win

No nation has universal suffrage
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Expansion of Suffrage
 U.S. first to hold mass elections, but
suffrage limited by states
 Initially only landowners or taxpayers
 By 1850s, all working-class males
 Suffrage for blacks and women took longer
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The Enfranchisement of Blacks

Even with passage of Fifteenth Amendment after
Civil War, some states resisted
 Poll taxes, literacy tests, “white primary,” and
violence all deterrents
 Supreme Court rulings supporting black suffrage
began with Smith v. Allwright (1944); later Harper
v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966)
 Voting Rights Act of 1965
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Figure 7.2
Voter Registration in the South, 1960,
1980, and 2000
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The Enfranchisement of Women
 Women could not vote anywhere in
world until 1869

First to grant women vote in U.S.:
Wyoming Territory in 1869
 Equal Rights Party formed in 1884
 Women gained national right to vote in 1920 with
Nineteenth Amendment
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The Fight for Women’s
Suffrage…and Against It
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Evaluating the Expansion of
Suffrage in America

Last major expansion was
26th Amendment in 1971
* Lowered voting age to 18

Though process towards generally universal suffrage
slow, U.S. still ahead of many other countries,
including other democracies
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Voting on Policies

Political power comes with suffrage

Progressivism flourished from 1900 to 1925;
proposed several electoral changes:
 Direct primary
 Recall
 Referendum
 Initiative

Not clear if these opportunities improve policies
made by elected representatives
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Figure 7.3
Westward Ho!
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Voting for Candidates

Serves democratic government two ways:
 Voters can choose candidate they think will best
represent their interests
 Voting allows citizens to re-elect candidates or vote
them out of office

U.S. government has few elected officials compared
to state and local governments

U.S. has more frequent and varied elections
than any other country in the world – but lower
voter turnout than many
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The Growth of Electoral
Democracy
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Explaining Political Participation
 Political participation can be:
 Conventional or unconventional
 Require little or require much initiative
 Serve to support government or influence its
decisions
 People who participate in one way may
not participate in others
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Patterns of Political
Participation Over Time

Generally, Americans’ participation is stable
over time
 Socioeconomic status a good indicator
of most types of participation
 Income
 Education (most important)
 Occupation
 Age, race, and gender also important
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Figure 7.4
Effects of Education on
Political Participation
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Low Voter Turnout in America
 Difficult to explain decline in voter
turnout in America
 26th Amendment (younger voters tend not
to vote)
 Belief that government no longer
responsive to citizens
 Change in attitude about political parties
 Register to vote at Rock the Vote:
http://www.rockthevote.com/
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Figure 7.5
The Decline of Voter Turnout:
An Unsolved Puzzle
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U.S. Turnout Versus Turnout in Other Countries

Differences in voting laws and administrative
machinery affect voter turnout in the U.S.
 Tuesday Election Day not a public holiday
 Burdensome registration procedures
 Political parties not tied to certain groups
 Most elections not particularly competitive
 Large number of elections and candidates
means difficult for voters to educate selves
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Participation and Freedom, Equality, & Order

Participation and freedom key in
normative theory
 Citizens free to participate when and how they
want (or not)
 Citizens free to use personal resources
to pursue any legal means to influence
government decisions
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Participation and Freedom, Equality, and Order

Participation and equality requires that each
citizen’s ability to influence government be
equal to every other citizen
 Differences in resources should not matter
 Elections serve ideal of equality best
 Groups can band together to increase
influence
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Participation and Freedom, Equality, & Order

Relationship between participation & order is
complicated
 Some types of participation promote order; others,
disorder
 Political system more threatened by unconventional
participation
 26th Amendment effort to bring order to
Vietnam War protests
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Participation & Models of Democracy

Elections implement democracy by allowing
citizens to choose among candidates and
issues

Elections socialize political activity

Elections institutionalize access to political
power

Elections bolster the state’s power and
authority
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