Participation and Political Equality

Inthissurveyofpoliticalparticipationinsevennations-Nigeria,Austria,Japan,India,theNetherlands,YugoslaviaandtheUnitedStates-theauthorsexaminetherelationshipbetweensocial,economic,andeducationalfactorsandpoliticalparticipation.Thebookprovidesinsightintoanongoingdebateamongpoliticalscientistsandsociologist:whyispoliticalparticipationinsomenationsdistributedevenlyacrosseconomic,social,andeducationallines,whereasothernationsfosterparticipationonlybytheirprivilegedclasses?Thebooktreatspoliticsnotonlyasadependentvariableinfluencedbysocioeconomicfactors,butalsoasanindependentvariablethataffectslevelsofpoliticalparticipationthroughvariationsinpartysystemsandlinkagesbetweenpartiesandotherorganizations.