It’s Not All About Resources

Explaining (or Not) the Instability of Individual-Level Political Participation Over Time

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6180294
AutoresJoanne M Miller (0000-0002-9823-5005, University of Minnesota, autor correspondente), Kyle L Saunders (0000-0003-4023-8729, Colorado State University)
Ano2016
Volume44
Fascículo6
Páginas943-981
Data de publicação2016-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Politics Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1532673x15599840
OpenAlexW2286294451
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas57

The dominant political science explanations of the causes of individual-level political participation converge on three sets of antecedents—resources/skills, recruitment, and political engagement. However, the overwhelming majority of the empirical tests of these antecedents rely on cross-sectional data, obscuring the fact that micro-level participation in the United States is more accurately characterized by instability rather than by stability. Using the American National Election Study and Jennings time-series data, we for the first time demonstrate the inability of traditionally examined antecedents to explain individual-level variation in political behavior over time. Finding extant theory inadequate in this regard, we propose a modification of participation theories that puts the concept of motivation in the foreground. We argue that a model that includes motivation may both pave the way for a better understanding of the variation in participation over time and suggest possible prescriptions to help alleviate representational biases at the individual level

Economics · Extant taxon · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Sociology · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Psychology · Social Capital and Networks · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology