Orthodox Political Participation in Australia

Abstract

In the study of Australian mass political behaviour, political party preference has been well documented but political par ticipation has not. Using factor analysis this article establishes that the four modes of orthodox political participation which have been identified in a wide variety of national settings, viz. campaigning, voting, communal activity and personalised con tacting, apply also in Australia. Furthermore, Australia is in the cross-national mainstream in terms of the factors most promi nent in determining participation and also, to the extent the data permit such judgements, in the proportions of its citizens who participate in different political activities. The article develops an explanatory model containing an array of social background and subjective political orientation variables and applies it in turn to the four separate dimensions and to a com bined participation scale. Among other factors, interest in pol itics, strength of partisanship, place of residence and education feature as key determinants of participation. In broad terms, mass political participation is striking for the regularity of its frequency and causal antecedents in many different cultures.