Political Participation and Effects from the Social Environment

This paper examines the distinction made by Huckfeldt (1979, 1986) and Giles and Dantico (1982) between individually and socially based forms of participation as affected by social environment. Using survey responses from the 1984 South Bend study, the relationship between political discussion partners is explicitly modeled and estimated for several forms of individually and socially based participatory acts. The evidence indicates that certain types of both individually based and socially based participation are affected by those in the immediate social environment, suggesting that a modification of this distinction is in order.