For Richer or Poorer, Politically Speaking

The civic voluntarism model holds that individual skills and resources are essential in predicting who will participate in politics. The chapter reviews the theoretical literature on why skills and resources matter. Analyses of the ISSP show the wide social-status gap in all forms of political participation, especially by education levels. Income, occupation, and other status attributes have additional effects. The rising levels of political participation, and the shift to new, direct forms of action produce a wide participation gap as a function of social status. This applies to conventional political activity such as contributing funds to a cause or contacting a political official, as well as contentious forms of action such as joining a demonstration or signing a petition. This large participation gap presents a theoretical and political dilemma for contemporary democracies.