TY - JOUR

T1 - Getting in, moving up, dropping out. The threefold social selectivity of participation in political parties

T2 - An empirical analysis of party members, former party members and the general public in Germany in 2017

AU - Springer, Frederik

AU - Klein, Markus

AU - Lüdecke, Yvonne

AU - Becker, Philipp

AU - Czeczinski, Lisa

AU - Schmidt, Bastian

N1 - Funding Information: This article is based on research funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [DFG grant KL 1385/2-1 and SP 1645/1-1].

PY - 2021/1

Y1 - 2021/1

N2 - Does the probability to join a political party, to become a party functionary, and to leave a party depend on individuals’ socioeconomic status? Political parties are central mediating actors between the population and the state; thus, it is reasonable to assume that unequal participation within parties fosters unequal political representation. However, due to data limitations no study has hitherto examined the social selectivity of the whole party membership cycle. We shed light on these issues by analysing original data from the German Party Membership Study 2017. We find that socially disadvantaged individuals are less likely to become and to stay party members and have a lower proclivity for holding political offices. These effects persist even after controlling for social-psychological variables and the general incentives for party membership. However, in line with recent findings on voter turnout we show that social selectivity is partly mediated by political efficacy.

AB - Does the probability to join a political party, to become a party functionary, and to leave a party depend on individuals’ socioeconomic status? Political parties are central mediating actors between the population and the state; thus, it is reasonable to assume that unequal participation within parties fosters unequal political representation. However, due to data limitations no study has hitherto examined the social selectivity of the whole party membership cycle. We shed light on these issues by analysing original data from the German Party Membership Study 2017. We find that socially disadvantaged individuals are less likely to become and to stay party members and have a lower proclivity for holding political offices. These effects persist even after controlling for social-psychological variables and the general incentives for party membership. However, in line with recent findings on voter turnout we show that social selectivity is partly mediated by political efficacy.

KW - joining parties

KW - leaving parties

KW - Party membership

KW - political inequality

KW - political office holder

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080931878&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.15488/12830

DO - 10.15488/12830

M3 - Article

VL - 22

SP - 121

EP - 139

JO - European Politics and Society

JF - European Politics and Society

SN - 2374-5118

IS - 1

ER -