POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND EQUALITY

Political participation can be defined as those actions of citizens which they seek to
influence or support government and politics. In simple terms, it is when a person is
participating in the political process by making his opinions known. In the social
sciences, the term 'political participation' is often used to describe an action taken by a
citizen to influence the outcome of a political issue.

Participation in electoral processes involves much more than just voting. Political
participation derives from the freedom to speak out, assemble and opportunity to
register as a candidate, to campaign, to be elected and to hold office at all levels of
government.

TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

1. Voting: In a democracy, voting is the single most important form of political

participation that a person can take part in because it ensures that politicians are
elected by the people, rather than being assigned to their position of power by
someone else.
2. Protest: Whether or not it is a constitutional right, as it is in the U.S., public
protests are another important form of political participation because you are
making your opinions known in a very obvious way, with the hope that your
actions will influence or initiate change in a particular area of politics.
3. Public consultations: Like voting, public consultations (which are more
commonly known as town hall meetings) offer ordinary citizens the chance to get
together in a group with a politician or elected official in order to make their
opinions and feelings known.
4. Jury duty: Although most people shudder at the thought of having to attend jury
duty, it is an important type of political participation because it ensures that
people who are charged with a crime are judged by people like them, rather than
allowing the outcome to depend entirely on a single person, such as a judge.

Unconventional participation is a relatively uncommon behavior that challenges or

defies government channels or the dominant culture. It is usually personally stressful
for both participants and their opponents. This type of participation has been
successful in influencing government decisions. People participating in
unconventional ways have a strong sense of political efficacy, highly developed
sense of group consciousness and distrust of the political system.

Political equality refers to the equality of each citizen's individual rights and liberty. The
most direct means for providing political equality is through the universal right to vote,
no matter the voter's personal background, wealth or social status.
John Rawl sees political equality as one part of a larger theory of justice. His theory
includes several elements. First is an assumption that people begin as equals under the
law, regardless of their personal talents or the circumstances in which they were born.
Second, all humans are equally valuable and have a sense of what is good and just.
Third is the notion of equality of opportunity. Finally, there is the recognition that no one
inherently deserves the talents or socioeconomic position they were born into but that
these things are simply circumstantial chance.

VOTING BEHAVIOR

From a sociological perspective, the study of voting behavior focuses primarily on

explaining who votes and how they vote. The analysis of voting patterns invariably
emphasizes on the determinants of why people vote as they do and how they arrive at
the decisions they make. Accordingly, voting behavior is a set of personal electoral
activities, including participation in electoral campaigns, turnout at the polls, and voting
preference is choosing for whom to vote. Social and attitude factors are related to voting
behavior.

Attitude factors includes assessment of the personal characters of the candidate,

evaluations of government performance, orientations on specific political issues, party
identification and ideology. For social factors, includes race, religion and social class.

DETERMINANTS OF VOTING BEHAVIOR

Studies of voting behavior have heavily used demographic variables, particularly

income, occupation and education, for explaining both voting turnout and the direction
of vote. These variables where related to frequency of participation and direction of vote
and interest in politics, which, in its turn, had an impact on turnout. On the other hand,
modern researches attach much importance to individual psychological processes like
perception, emotion and motivation, and their relation to political action, as well as of
institutional patterns, such as communication process, and their impact on elections.

In the context of the Philippines, there exists an alarming situation of the electoral micro-
level in which voters choose candidates on very different reasons, including campaign
methods and characteristics of candidates. There also exists a high level of uneducated
voters whose basis for voting are highly different from those educated.

References: Mondal, Puja; Voting behavior; Various Approaches and Determinants of Voting
Behavior; Retrieved March 2, 2017; Political Participation (n.d); Retrieved March 2, 2017 from
http://www2.fiu.edu/~milch002/CPO3643/outlines/participation.htm