City Size and Civic Involvement in Metropolitan America

TLDR

America’s recent migration to smaller suburban cities and declining civic participation have renewed interest in Dahl’s ideas about the ideal size of democratic polities. The study investigates the impact of city size on participation in four local civic activities using 1990 data. The analysis employs 1990 data to compare civic engagement across cities of varying sizes. Controlling for individual and city characteristics, residents of larger cities are significantly less likely to contact officials, attend meetings, or vote locally—a pattern driven by weaker social ties and lower interest in local affairs, independent of metropolitan size, underscoring the role of municipal institutions in fostering civil society.

Abstract

Given the coincidence between America's recent migration to smaller, suburban cities and declines in civic participation, Dahl's speculations on the ideal-sized democratic polity have gained more pertinence. I explore the effects of city size on participation in four local civic activities using 1990 data. Controlling for both individual- and city-level characteristics, I find people in larger cities are much less likely to contact officials, attend community or organizational meetings, or vote in local elections. Lower civic participation is attributable partly to differences in social relations and psychological orientation between residents of larger and smaller places. People in big cities are less likely to be recruited for political activity by neighbors and are less interested in local affairs. These differences occur irrespective of the size of the surrounding metropolitan area and demonstrate the importance of municipal institutions for fostering civil society. The implications for studies of participation, suburbanization, and democratic political theory are discussed.