Political Participation and the Neighborhood Social Context

Abstract

This study combines sample survey data with aggregate census tract data to show that the neighborhood social context has an important effect upon the extent of individual political activity and the degree to which participation is structured by individual status. Higher status contexts often encourage participation among higher status individuals at the same time that they discourage participation among lower status individuals. As a result, political activity is more highly structured by individual status in higher status contexts than in lower status contexts. The effect of the social context seems most pronounced upon political activities which require social interaction, and alternative explanations based upon individual attributes do not satisfactorily account for the social context's effect.