| Summary: | This report presents preliminary findings from a survey conducted within the project «New Forms of Political Participation in an Urban Context». The project aims at gaining insights into local citizenship and new forms of political participation within an urban context. The city offers a wide variety of possible avenues for political involvement. Furthermore, the urban context represents a particular form of public exposedness. In an urban context one is inevitably exposed to unfamiliar perspectives and experiences. Urbanity implies an unavoidable publicness. This publicness may prove to be a great resource to some. To others it feels threatening and they seek to retreat from public spaces into private lacunaes. In what ways do citizens participate, and who participates in various activities? The survey maps a number of participatory forms, both formal and informal. The questionnaire also includes several questions to indicate social capital. The urban citizen is not politically passive or apathetic. But the evidence reveals considerable social differences. Some observations even suggest that the social bias in political participation will increase in the years to come. Education shows only weak effects on turnout and no effects whatsoever on party involvement. However, when looking at less formal activities, like single-issue involvement, social differences are significant. Simultaneously we watch a shifting in the way people participate. The citizens’ engagement is channelled through direct channels and traditional mass mobilising organisations, like political parties, are losing ground. Political involvement is turning into an individual activity, based on individual resources. New forms of political engagement are welcomed as tokens of a democratic renewal. Nevertheless, the evidence presented here prompts the question whether the rise of new forms of participation may eventually shut the less resourceful out of politics. Denne rapporten er en gjennomgang av en spørreundersøkelse som er gjennomført ...
|
|---|