POWER AND INFLUENCE-BASED POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES

• Authors: Matej Makarovič , Mateja Rek
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In this article, we analyse issues related to political participation from the perspective of sociological theory. The key argument is based on a theoretical framework distinguishing clearly between power and influence. We employ Talcott Parsons' theory of steering media and use it as a base on which to build a classification of forms of political participation. We show that with the development of a society, power-based political participation is not being replaced by influence-based political participation. Instead, in developed societies, the number of active citizens increases, and they tend to use more of both power-based and influence-based forms of political participation. Based on our classification of the forms of political participation, we examine a set of quantitative indicators using a hierarchical cluster analysis in order to explore differences and similarities among EU members as regards the use of power or influence-based forms of political participation.

Keywords

EN

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION; DEMOCRACY; EUROPE; INFLUENCE; POWER

• Publisher: Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Sociológia (Sociology)
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 686 – 705

Contributors

author

Matej Makarovič

• School of Advanced Social Studies, Gregorčičeva 19, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia

author

Mateja Rek