Group Involvement and Democratic Orientations: Social Capital in the Postelection Context

Mark R. Joslyn and Allan Cigler

Social Science Quarterly, 2001, vol. 82, issue 2, 357-368

Abstract: Objective. This article tests the relationship between involvement in voluntary associations and attitudinal changes considered supportive of democratic principles and system legitimacy. Methods. We utilize 1996 pre‐ and postelection American National Election Studies panel data to test the proposed relationship. The effects of reported levels of group involvement are examined across three attitudinal measures of democratic support: trust in government, external efficacy, and absolute differences in postelection evaluations of the winning and losing candidates. Results. Greater involvement in voluntary organizations contributes to increased levels of postelection trust in government and external efficacy and a reduction in postelection polarization of comparative candidate evaluations. Conclusions. In addition to supporting the social capital proposition linking group involvement to orientations viewed as enhancing of democracy, this study also contributes to a growing literature linking individual‐level behavior to changes in systemic‐level attitudes.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/0038-4941.00028

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:82:y:2001:i:2:p:357-368

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0038-4941

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry

More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().