A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL DECISIONMAKING AND SELECTED STRUCTURAL AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES

HEATHER ANNE JACKSON NORVILLE, Purdue University

Abstract

This study describes the relationship between citizen participation, operationalized as level of participation, and both structural and social psychological variables. Specifically, this study investigates the relationship of six structural variables: socioeconomic status, age, size of place, sex, marital status, and group membership; and three social psychological variables: civic obligation, issue specificity, and perceived effectiveness; with participation. A causal model of participation is formulated and analyzed using a sample of Indiana participants active in the environmental decisionmaking process. Both interviews and mailed questionnaires were administered. Historically, participation can be seen as a revolution, the result of a long movement to improve the rights of citizens to participate. Generally, participation can also be seen as a function of social organization, with the primary relationships of the past becoming functionally irrelevant and gradually being replaced with voluntary associations. Correlation analysis showed that the largest relationship was between the independent variable, group membership, and participation with a Pearson's r of .50. This was followed by participation paid by participant, issue specificity, perceived effectiveness, and environmental concern. Socioeconomic status, age, size of place, sex, marital status, and civic obligation did not have significant relationships with participation. However, the significant causal effects found during the multivariate analysis between the independent variables and participation were, in the order of their rank, group membership with a Pearson's r of .47, then participation paid by participant, environmental concern, and issue specificity. The order of the latter two variables changed because of the size of the spurious component included in the zero-order coefficient of issue specificity. The total effect of perceived effectiveness on participation is noncausal or spurious. Respondents reported participation varied considerably from 0 to 117 hours per week. The majority spent more than 5 hours per week participating. In general, respondents ranked high on the socioeconomic indicators. The most important relationship found is between group membership and participation. This is the largest direct relationship. Groups give their members training and practice in political skills. They provide resources, experiences, and the opportunities that persons would be unlikely to gain acting alone. The other strong relationship expected in these data was between socioeconomic status and participation because of the strong emphasis in the political participation and voluntary association literature. This relationship was not found in these data. This is probably due to the differences in comparisons being made. The threshold for socioeconomic status occurs when a person changes from a nonparticipant to a participant, not when he changes from slightly active to very active. In conclusion, the subjects of this study spend many hours per week participating, they largely work through environmental organizations, they appear to be "pushed" by environmental concerns and/or issues to become involved in environmental organizations, subsequently increasing their participation, they are largely unaffected by background variables with respect to their participation, and their perceived effectiveness is not significantly related to their participation when group membership is controlled.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Sociology

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