Rozan Chaya B.

Marquez PS 11-C
Political Participation
Political participation has been a critical instrument in the spread of democracies around the
world. People's engagement in politics consists not only of voting but also of actions in which
they form and express their views on how they are governed. They attempt to push their
causes and impact political decisions that will ultimately affect their way of life. According to
Sucgang (2006), “Governments can only promote development for all if they have
government institutions that are responsible to all citizens and allow all citizens to participate
in the discussions and decisions that affect their lives.” Political participation is the extent to
which individuals exercise their constitutionally protected rights to engage in ordinary
democratic political activities.

In order to achieve the basic responsibilities of the government such us protecting their
independence and strengthening social cohesion, the government must use fundamental
instruments such as articulation, interest aggression, coercion, compromise, and others. This
entails a governing process that will be worthless in the absence of political participation. As
a result, it is only crucial to examine various forms of political engagement. There are newer,
more innovative, customized, and personalized ways to participate in politics. Political
scientists are finding it challenging to detect political involvement due to the usage of
internet-based technology (van Deth, 2016). Political scientists have distinguished between
two forms of participation: conventional and unconventional. Conventional methods are more
widespread and accepted, whereas unconventional ways are less frequent and sometimes
regarded as less acceptable.

The act of voting, as previously said, is the most prominent form of political involvement
(Uhlaner,2015). Usually, people's involvement in politics has concentrated on election
engagement. Voting was long thought to be the primary method for a person's opinion to be
heard in the political system, and voter turnout has been regarded as the most widely used
metric of citizen involvement in the United States. When postwar American political
scientists considered political involvement, they merely considered activities aimed at
influencing governmental choices (Ekma & Amna, 2012).

In certain situations, governments start the process of soliciting public input on a number of
issues. Some of these approaches include public hearings, in which individuals are given the
opportunity to express their opinions on the topic under consideration. Some governments
form citizen advisory committees to offer the information needed to make policy decisions.

On the other hand, unconventional methods of participation include demonstrations, civil

disobedience, and political violence. Boycotts and rallies are examples of demonstrations.
Civil disobedience is the deliberate attempt to get arrested in order to attract attention to a
cause. As a result, this is a more severe type of political involvement than a straightforward
demonstration. Politically motivated violence is the most extreme type of political
engagement such as bombings, assassinations, and riots, among other things.

In their widely cited model, Verba and Nie used four components of participation: voting;
campaign activity such as supporting or collaborating with a political candidate, as well as
providing financially to these groups and individuals; contacting elected officials; and
cooperative or community actions, these activities involve volunteering and addressing
certain local issues in an organization (Verba & Nie,1972).

Teorell et al. (2007) propose a different model with five dimensions. The first of which is
voter participation. Charitable contributions, boycotting, and political purchasing, as well as
signing petitions, are all forms of customer participation. In some ways, it exploits
people's role as decisive consumers. The third component is party activity: belonging to,
being active in, doing volunteer work for, or giving money to a political party. The fourth
dimension is protest activity, which includes actions such as participating in marches, rallies,
and other public protests. The fifth component, contact activity which consists of interacting
with organizations, officials, or government employees.

These new kinds of political participation were thought to have emerged as a result of
changes in the socio-cultural-political landscape, such as people's changing expectations from
government and their fellowmen. Free choices do not happen in the political realm. The
social and political setting in which people live influences and determine their preferences.
Furthermore, their political activities differ from their preferences. Because administrative
motivations and restrictions alter the translation of choices into action, political engagement
is dependent on the connection between personal choices and political conditions.
Residence, gender, age, education, occupation, income, and civil status, are some components
of the social environment. According to Halder and Campbell-Phillips (2020) research on
political involvement, most of these characteristics are related to participation to some extent.
Participation is higher among the more educated, members of higher occupational and
economic categories, the middle-aged, dominant ethnic and religious groups, males in
contrast to women, established residents, city dwellers, and volunteers. The structure of
society impacts political activity in two ways: it affects motivation and it affects access to
resources to fulfill political goals. Individuals with greater socioeconomic status seem to be
more inclined to get involved in politics. They have more access to resources which
will provide the ability to engage in a variety of political activities by providing the necessary
skills, interest, and capability.

Residence. Those who live in urban regions have greater opportunities to engage. Their
higher educational level, along with a better grasp of political problems, lower physical
expenses of involvement, and greater exposure to mass media, are likely to make politics a
more important part of their lives than some of those residing in rural regions (Halder and
Campbel-Phillips, 2020).

Gender. Earlier research found significant sex differences in political activity, with men
usually being more likely to engage than women; however, newer discoveries generated
conflicting results depending on the sort of involvement. Sucgang (2016) added that females
from metropolitan regions are much more inclined to take part in active political engagement
in the public realm, presumably because their closeness to centers of political authority
exposes them to such activities and provides them with the opportunity to do so. Women are
less active in politics than males in American and British culture; there is a gender divide in
political engagement. Women feel that they lack the power to affect political reform and that
their participation would have very little impact on society. Also, the significant percentage
of female unemployment makes them hesitant to participate in democracy (van Deth, 2016).

Age. In relation to age, previous research found that overall involvement levels increased
with age but steadily declined after individuals reached the age of 60. The younger generation
is far more likely than the older generation to support protests. The propensity of older people
to participate may be related to their need for stronger national or regional government
assistance and supplies as single parents who must meet the needs of their families (Sucgang,
2006).

Education. The importance of education in terms of participation is self-evident. Education

provides more information and broadens one's horizons of interest. Higher education
broadens political knowledge, consciousness, and articulateness (Halder and Campbel-
Phillips, 2020). It expands social responsibility, interest, and obligation as well. The more
educated we are, we're much likely to transpire our political interests and learning to the
following generation. Thus, education obtained by one generation is significant not just to its
own engagement, but it may also impact the degree to which the following generation
participates in politics.

Income. Higher socioeconomic level (SES) is related to a greater chance of engagement in a

variety of political activities; individuals are more likely to vote, participate in meetings, form
a party, campaign, and so on. As a result, higher-income groups are shown to vote
significantly more often than lower-income ones (Halder and Campbel-Phillips, 2020).
According to Alelaimat (2019), three factors influence political participation: time, money,
and social skills. To really be able to take part in political causes, the person needs money. As
a result, high-income households can support the candidates of choice for public office thus,
their political engagement grows.

Civil status. Single persons have been observed to be more inclined to engage in public
opinion formation activities such as participating in protests and signing petitions. On the
other hand, married persons were more likely to influence political decisions through
contacting local government officials and lobbying for an issue inside a certain group
(Sucgang, 2006).

Ideally, any citizen can partake and influence in shaping political activities, but in reality,
political engagement and influence are unevenly distributed. As registered voters in this
nation, political engagement is an important aspect of our lives. We need to be informed of
updates about elected politicians from all three branches of the government on a regular basis
since they provide a distinct and reasonable perspective on topics that may impact their local
region in their role. Besides, politics is a part of human life, and the more knowledgeable and
up to date each of us with the most recent news stories, the more likely it is that we can
educate and influence others with correct information, while also building confidence and
enthusiasm between community members who go onto more public engagement or learning.

References:
 Alelaimat, Mohammad Soud. (August 22, 2019). Factors Affecting Political
participation (Jordanian universities students’ voting: Field study 2017-2018).
Emerald Insight.Retrieved on October 18,
2021https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/REPS-05-2019-0072/
full/html
 Halder, D.P., Campbell-Phillips, Sharon. (March 2020). A review on Political
Participation. Asian Journal of Education and Social Studies. Retrieved on October
18, 2021 from 10.9734_ajess_2020_v7i230191.pdf
 Uhlaner ,Carole Jean. (2015). International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral
Sciences (Second Edition). Science Direct. Retrieved on October 18, 2021 from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/political-participation
 Sucgang, Evangelina. (2006). Typology and Correlates of Politial Participation
Among Filipinos. Scribd. Retrieved on October 18, 2021 from
https://www.scribd.com/document/329502904/Filipino-Political-Participation
 Verba, S., Nie, N. H., & Kim, J. O. (1978). Participation and political equality: A
seven-nation comparison. CUP Archive. Retrieved on October 18, 2021 from
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 Van Deth, Jan. (November 22, 2016). What is Political Partcipation. Research Gate.
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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354986876_What_Is_Political_Participation
 Teorell, J., Torcal, M., & Montero, J. R. (2007). Political Participation: Mapping the
Terrain. In J. van Deth, J. R. Montero, & A. Westholm (Eds.), Citizenship and
Involvement in European Democracies: A Comparative Perspective. Research gate.
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