Political participation and involvement: a study in concept construction and measurement

Abstract

A review of recent works in the field of Political Participation revealed much confusion over what the concept meant. It was decided to test the measuring instruments used in the major works in the participation field in order to come up with more precise working definitions for Political Participation and Involvement. The measuring instruments were compiled and tested on a sample of adults in the Roanoke, Virginia, area. Attempts to locate dimensions of political participation were made by means of cluster analysis, factor analysis, and guttman scaling procedures. The methodological results were inconclusive. There was, however, evidence of the existence of two dimensions of Political Involvement. The writer labeled the first dimension "Psychological Readiness for Participation." It was made up of attitudinal measures of participation The second dimension was labeled "Overt Participation" and consisted of overt participation measures. There was support found for the hypothesis that one must hold the proper attitudes towards participating in politics before the overt behavior can take place. It was proposed that the two logical dimensions of Involvement in Politics, suggested in this project, be explored in future research.