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Resource and Social Learning Theories of Political Participation: Ethnic Patterns in Australia*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Ian McAllister  and
Toni Makkai
Ian McAllister
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales
Toni Makkai
Affiliation:
Australian National University
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Abstract

Political participation is central to liberal democracy, yet there are substantial variations in the levels of participation observable among different social groups. Empirical theories explain these variations by the different socio-economic resources individuals possess and by their resulting levels of trust and efficacy in the political system. By contrast, social learning theories see these differences in participation as stemming from the values that individuals absorb from the political culture. This article uses Australia—an established liberal democracy with a large immigrant population—as a case study to evaluate these two theories. The results show that immigrants socialized in countries lacking continuous democratic traditions have greater political trust, but also display more authoritarian values. Differences emerge not only in the type of participation being analyzed, but among ethnic groups. The findings support the view that the resource and social learning theories are complementary rather than exclusive explanations for political participation.

Résumé

La participation politique joue un rôle central en démocratie libérale, bien qu'ily ait des variations considérables entre les niveaux de participation observable d'un groupe social à un autre. Les théories empiriques expliquent ces variations fondées sur les disparités de ressources socio-économiques que possèdent les individus et par leur niveau de confiance et de pouvoir d'action dans le système politique. Par contraste, les théories d'apprentissage social considèrent que ces différences au niveau de la participation politique s'expliquent par les valeurs de la culture politique que les individus intériorisent. Cet article se sert du cas de l'Australie—une démocratie libérale établie avec une importante population immigrée—pour évaluer ces deux théories. Les analyses démontrent que les immigrants socialisés en pays dépourvus de traditions démocratiques soutenues manifestent une plus grande confiance politique, mais affichent des valeurs plus autoritaires. Les différences apparaissent non seulement, quant au type de participation, mais également entre groupes ethniques. Les données montrent que les théories basées sur les ressources, d'une part, et sur l'apprentissage social, d'autre part, offrent des explications complémentaires plutôt qu'incompatibles de la participation politique.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 269 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1992

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References

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27 This includes immigrants from Ireland (North and South) as well as those from England, Scotland and Wales. Excluding Irish immigrants (who are not large enough to be analyzed separately) reaches the same substantive conclusions.

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38 Almond and Verba, The Civic Culture, and Nettle, Peter, Political Mobilisation (London: Faber, 1967)Google Scholar. Milbrath and Goel (Political Participation, 2) define political participation more broadly, as “those actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics.” In this definition, they include explicitly such symbolic and ceremonial acts.

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40 Turnout in Australia federal elections is typically about 95 per cent (see McAllister, Ian, “Compulsory Voting, Turnout and Party Advantage in Australia,” Politics 21 [1986], 89–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar). It could be argued that citizenship provides the Australian equivalent of the voting dimension, particularly for immigrants, since becoming a citizen is a voluntary act (like turnout) which conveys the obligation to vote (Graetz and McAllister, Dimensions, 100–03). However, this has no consequences for the Australianborn, for whom it is not a voluntary act. Moreover, different patterns of citizenship apply to the birthplace groups and, until recently, different rules applied to British and non-British immigrants about eligibility (see Kelley and McAllister, “The Decision,” and Wearing, Rosemary, “Correlates of Choosing Australian Citizenship,” Australia and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 21 [1985], 395–413)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Because of these complications, then, we do not consider citizenship here.

41 A factor analysis confirmed that these dimensions were distinct among the respondents. Communal participation combines five items, all concerned with solving community problems: formed an action group, worked with others and contacted federal, state or local officials. Campaign activity is made up of attended political Euro meetings, helped parties or candidates and persuaded others at elections. Particularized contacts combines contact with a federal, state or local official about a family problem. For details of scale construction, see Appendix.

42 Verba and Nie, Participation in America, 31.

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