Chapter 7
Democracy and 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
necessary for democracy, but
do not ensure democracy
Political Participation
 All
citizen activities that attempt to
influence government’s structure,
selection of officials, or policies
 Conventional participation
 Unconventional participation
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
Unconventional
Participation
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”
Figure 7.1
What Americans Think Is
Conventional Behavior
The Effectiveness of
Unconventional Participation
 Unconventional
participation 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
The Effectiveness of
Unconventional Participation
Conventional Participation
 Practical
test for democracy: can
citizens influence policies by acting
through its institutions?
 Two major categories for
conventional participation:
 Supportive behavior
 Influencing behavior
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
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
 Viewed differently by majoritarian and pluralist
theories
 Campaign contributions also on this list
Influencing Behavior
Policy Objectives – activities
that influence selection of
government officials and policies
 Broad
 Also require different levels of initiative
 Voting, running for office, holding
meetings, working on campaigns,
attending hearings, or using the court
system
The Twitter Revolution
Influencing Behavior
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
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
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
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
Figure 7.2
Voter Registration in the South, 1960,
1980, and 2000
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
The Fight for Women’s
Suffrage…and Against It
Evaluating the Expansion of
Suffrage in America
major expansion was 26th
Amendment in 1971
 Last
 Lowered voting age to 18
 Though
process towards generally
universal suffrage slow, U.S. still
ahead of many other countries,
including other democracies
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
Figure 7.3
Westward Ho!
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

The Growth of Electoral
Democracy
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
Patterns of Political
Participation Over Time
 Generally,
Americans’ participation
stable over time
 Socioeconomic status a good
indicator of most types of participation
 Income
 Education (most important)
 Occupation
 Age, race, and gender also important
Figure 7.4
Effects of Education on
Political Participation
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
Figure 7.5
The Decline of Voter Turnout:
An Unsolved Puzzle
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
Participation and Freedom,
Equality, and 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
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
Participation and Freedom,
Equality, and Order
 Relationship
between participation
and order complicated
 Some types of participation promote
order; others, disorder
 Political system more threatened by
unconventional participation
 26th Amendment effort to bring order to
Viet Nam War protests
Participation and 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
Participation and
Majoritarianism

Majoritarian theory views participation
narrowly
 Favors conventional participation,
especially voting
 Bias towards equality in elections
 Some say goes hand in hand with
communitarianism

Because majoritarian theory favors
formalized, collective decisions, little
place for private influence