Inequalities of Social and Community Participation
In the last chapter, our hypothesis about the interdependence between community life and civic participation was described.
It is assumed that this strong relationship sets the ground for the resolution of social problems which is usually achieved through social participation (Pateman 1975). Social participation is the cooperation and involvement of community members in the management of public issues, in the preparation and execution of decisions.
In the multi-party political system and indirect democracy, individual participation is realised through representatives, even on the local level. The underlying danger of the system is the fact that the majority of the people are not continuously informed about their community’s problems, thus they do not feel competent to express their opinions, become ignorant with time, and apart from the elections they stay away from public life. Our research aimed to determine what proportion of the sample participated in the resolution of the problems of a closer or wider community, in everyday public life, and what proportion was able to influence the decisions concerning the entire society.
The efficiency and success of individual civic participation depends on the communities where cooperation and information exchange take place. It was assumed that the
individual social participation can be described by the scale created with the synthesis of the indexes of community life, attitude towards public life and civic practice. With the help of this scale, it would become possible to identify the proportion of the population who are prepared to renew the democracy and to understand the social-demographic features of this proportion. We would be also able to describe the living conditional factors which intensify the community and civic participation, or in other words, the democratic participation.
The factor (principal component analysis) comprising the indexes of community life and civic participation was applied as the scale of social participation.26 The scale was divided into five levels with cluster analysis. Only 3, 6% of the sample reached the highest level (intensive and outstanding social participation), and this means that only a fragment of the respondents lived frequent and intensive community life and participated in public life actively at the same time.
Contradictorily, the ‘passive’ category which was characterised by isolation from community and from public life comprised 10, 5% of the respondents.
26 The principal component analysis created by the synthesis of the indexes of community life and civic practice produced a scale that encompassed the information content of the community relations, civic practice and attitude of the respondents. The single factor generated in this way (its own value = 1, 33) arranged two thirds of the sample (66, 8%) into a hierarchy. Then, the continuous factor variable was divided into five categories with cluster analysis, because it facilitated the description of the social and community
Figure 13:
The distribution of the sample on the 5-level scale of social participation (Renewing the Democracy through the Need for Community Ties/A közösségi kapcsolatok igénye a demokrácia
megújításának esélye, 2009, N=1051)
One fifth (21%) of the sample occupied the two top levels (outstanding + good) of the index of social participation.
These two levels collected the respondents who participated in community and social life the most actively. According to the participation index, every fifth respondent is a socially and communally active citizen. (Earlier a similar proportion of the respondents reported that they considered public life important besides their strong community ties).
The upper fifth of the sample would be able to shape, improve and renew the democratic framework of the society with their active social participation. The two living conditional factors that determined the composition of the two top categories (according to the linear regression analysis) were the childhood community practice and the educational
attainment of the respondents.27 Thus, adult social participation is established in childhood, and its intensity increases with educational attainment. Consequently, people, whose childhood socialization process was based on strong community ties, and later reached higher educational level than the average, have better chance to influence their social environment through their active civic practice and inclination for social participation.
One third of the sample (31, 5%) had medium level of social participation which means that these respondents were occasionally willing to take part in the public life of their communities.
Almost the half of the sample was distributed on the two lowest levels of the scale (weak + passive = 47, 5%). The members of these two groups did not benefit from the possibilities of socialization in wider communities, and the highest educational level was primary school here. From these respondents, social activity, community participation and collaboration for common aims cannot be expected, since they do not possess the necessary preconditions: community ties, financial security and the level of education which would facilitate the comprehension of information about public issues.
The data suggest that only the upper fifth of the society is capable to form the social circumstances of their community with active civic participation. One third gets involved occasionally, and every second respondent lacks the need and inclination for community life and consequently abstain from it. The latter half of the society mostly has no choice but to endure the public decisions which are decisively influenced by the civic participation of the upper fifth. Due to the deficiencies in their social network, their attitude, financial situation and
27 Explanatory variables included in the analysis were the educational attainment, the childhood community practice, the settlement type, the age
education, half of the society does not play any role in social development, and relinquishes their right to interfere.
The relationship between the index of social participation and different living conditions revealed the social and demographic inequalities. Every respondent in the top category of participation index was socialized in childhood communities, without exception. In relation to the own and the father’s educational attainment, it was obvious that the respondents with at least secondary level of education were more likely to participate actively. The examination of the settlement types showed that the outstanding participation category consisted mainly of residents of the county towns.
Furthermore, the proportion of the affluent respondents in the most active one fifth was remarkable, and the chance of participation decreased with the level of income. The youngest respondents were characterised by the most positive civic practice and attitude, while the members of the age group over sixty barely took part in public life.
Macro-communal Identity on the Highest Levels of Social Participation
Based on the distribution of the index of social participation, it seems highly probable that the community identity of the upper fifth is crucial to the future of the society, as this fragment of the population has a strong influence on the decisions about social issues. In the third chapter, five types of macro-communal identities were differentiated (the prevalence of double identity was accepted): national, local, ideological (political-religious), occupational and international (class, ethnic, EU).
In our research, we attempted to answer the question which macro-identity was mainly adopted by the two upper categories of social participation (outstanding + good), since these people have a decisive part in the formation of local, national or European regional social circumstances.
Figure 14:
The averages of factor variables of national, ideological and occupational identity on the different levels of social participation (Renewing the Democracy through the Need for Community Ties/A közösségi kapcsolatok igénye a demokrácia megújításának esélye, 2009,
N=1051)
The small proportion of respondents on the outstanding level of participation (3, 6%) showed a strong preference for occupational and ideological (political-religious) identities, but the national identity was slightly stronger than the sample average in this group as well. The respondents on the second level of participation (17, 4%) predominantly opted for occupational identity.
The ideological and the national identities produced U-shaped graphs on the five levels of participation. This means that these two types had significant values of preference in the two extreme levels (outstanding and passive), whereas the values remained under the average in the other categories of participation.
Local identity had low values in the two upper levels of participation, but it was noticeably preferred by the respondents on the ‘passive’ level. The discrepancy in the preference for local identity in the socially most active, affluent and in the resourceless classes was striking. The low values of local identity on the upper level of social participation indicate that the citizens with the most intensive social participation ‘devalue’ local community relationships, they ‘skip’ the local level, and focus their attention on the interests of wider social groups.
Additionally, their activity is motivated by their wish for prestige and status-attitude deriving from the occupational identity.
Figure 15:
The averages of the factor variables of local and international identities on the levels of social participation (Renewing the Democracy through
the Need for Community Ties/A közösségi kapcsolatok igénye a demokrácia megújításának esélye, 2009, N=1051)
In sum, the attachment of the two upper categories of the participation scale, the fifth of the society which controls the community and public life, to the macro-community is predominantly determined by their occupational identities.
Thus, it is probable that their actions in public life are motivated by occupational prestige and status representation. In the highest category, the ideological identity was significant as well, which points to the political ambition of this group. The self-identification of the top category with the home communities was ambivalent: although they felt devoted to their country, they did not show affection for their ‘closer home’, for their local communities. In contrast with the top category, the respondents on the lowest participation level had remarkably strong national and local identities simultaneously.
The preference for different identities in the participation groups reflects the discrepancies in their living conditions. This can be easily demonstrated by the example of the respondents on the passive level of participation, as their disadvantaged situation, their lack of social and geographical mobility tie them to their home, living place, country and nation, and the definite framework of their lives strengthens their local identity. The self-identification with the local community is supplemented with ‘faith’ in the passive category, or in other words with affiliation to transcendental and/or political-ideological groups.
The connection of identity preference with the factor index of social participation verifies that predominantly the resourceful groups of the society possess the measures necessary to the development of need and inclination for social participation and to its practice. The renewal of democratic public life rests on the citizens who are socially advantaged, who were integrated into communities from their childhood, when they acquired positive attitude towards public life which
later increased their inclination for participation and their ambition to form the society. The more resourceless a social group is, the more exposed its members become to the political games and tactics of the affluent (Utasi 1997).
Due to their disadvantaged situation, the members of the lower social classes retreat from community life, and relinquish their possibility of social participation. There are always individual exceptions, lonely freedom fighters from different social backgrounds, but the real leaders of public life emerge from advantaged communities and social circumstance.
According to our results, the influence of childhood community practice, at least secondary education and financial security are the favourable living conditions that ensure leading positions in social life.28
28 The living conditional determinants of participation were analysed with linear regression. The 5-level index of civic participation was dichotomised;
the respondents on the 1-3 levels were regarded as active, and the respondents on the 4-5 levels as passive in civic participation. According to the model, the primary determinant of participation was (1) childhood community practice, the second was the (2) educational attainment and the third most important the (3) income.
Figure 16:
The average of the factor index of the linear civic participation in relation to educational attainment (Renewing the Democracy through
the Need for Community Ties/A közösségi kapcsolatok igénye a demokrácia megújításának esélye, 2009, N=1051)