Political participation and democracy in Britain
"Political participation and democracy in Britain is based on the findings of a sample survey of nearly 1,600 people across England, Scotland and Wales as well as a further 1,600 men and women and nearly 300 leaders in six specially selected and contrasting local communities. These people were asked about the extent to which they had taken action such as writing to their Member of Parliament, working in a group to raise a local problem, going on a protest march or canvassing for a political party. They were also asked about their experiences in taking action and the impressions they had formed of political institutions and processes." "By focusing on the more regular day-to-day patterns of citizen political activity, the authors found wider levels of participation than previous research has revealed. They analyse these findings in terms of age, gender, social class and education and look at the reactions of local leaders to the efforts people make to influence them. The authors also draw comparisons with political participation in other countries and, in their concluding section, highlight trends in citizen activity which might lead to new patterns of political life in late twentieth century Britain and beyond. Book jacket."--Jacket
Print Book, English, 1992
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [England], 1992
xviii, 509 pages : illustrations, map ; 26 cm
9780521332989, 9780521336024, 0521332982, 0521336023
21910589
Part I. Theories and methods
1. Participation and democracy
2. The study of participation and its political context
Part II. Patterns and pathways
3. Patterns of political participation
4. Individual resources
5. Group resources
6. Economic location
7. Personal factors
8. Political outlooks
9. Party and values
10. Who are the political activists?
Part III. Issues and actions
11. Agendas and political action
12. Do participants get what they want? The costs and benefits of participation
13. Learning from political participation
Part IV. The local process
14. The local political scene
15. Local participation
16. Local elites, activists and agendas
17. Participation and the making of the local agendas
18. The quality of local participation
Part V. Conclusions
19. Participation and democracy in Britain
Appendix A. Survey methods
Appendix B. Measuring elite-citizen concurrence
Appendix C. The National Questionnaire