Organizations as Agents of Mobilization: How Does Group Activity Affect Political Participation?

Abstract

Although organizational involvement has been widely studied as an independent predictor of political participation, there is some question about the process whereby groups mobilize their members. One model is that organizational activity and social class relate to participation in similar ways-through the development of political attitudes and skills. An alternative model is that group members are mobilized without developing participatory orientations. Evidence presented here suggests that organizations vary systematically by type (1) in the level and mode of participation engaged in by their members and (2) in the relative importance of political orientations to these relationships.