Classwork Series And Exercises {Civic Education – SS1}: Popular Participation

Civic Education

Topic: Popular Participation

Contents:       Meaning of Popular participation

                      Mode of Popular participation

                      Traditional and modern means of Popular participation

                      Forms of Popular Participation

                      Factors Affecting Popular Participation

Popular Participation

The term, ‘participation’ means the involvement of persons in the process of determining decisions on matters that affect them.

Popular participation can be defined as the process whereby the majority of the citizens in a state or country show interest in partaking in the affairs and decision making of the state.

Popular participation involves the input of citizen and enabling them to be involve in the decision making of the state. It also ensures that decision are made in consideration of the majority

Popular participation gives unrestricted equal opportunities to all citizens in expressing their views towards the activities of the state. Popular participation thus suggests a process of involving wider sections of people in decision making on issues that concern them.

Mode of popular participation

This means the method by which people participate. The following are mode of popular participation:

1. Direct/face to face popular participation: This is the form of popular participation which requires the direct or face to face presence of the citizens in political issues especially election and other issues .Example is a citizen coming out to cast his/her vote during election.
2. Telephone via mass media popular participation: This is the form of popular participation that does not involve face to face but involve sending opinions, suggestion and participating through phone calls via television and radio.

Traditional and Modern Mode of Popular Participation

Traditional mode of popular participation: This is the mode of using local traditional leaders to promote politics; it is a mode which allows room for physical participation like the face to face mode of participation.

Modern mode of popular participation: This is the mode of popular participation carried out through expressing of oneself through the mass media.

Forms Of Popular Participation

Ways By Which Citizens Can Participate In The Nation’s Affairs are:

Factors Affecting Popular Participation

1. Psychological or cognitive traits:

Social psychologists have emphasized on psychological traits which stem from individual personality and cognitive structures. They include sense of efficacy, sense of civic responsibility, sociability, sense of alienation and authoritari­anism. It is assumed that there is a relation between the cognitive status of low self-esteem and feeling of pessimism and alienation from society and political apathy.

2. Social environment:

The social environment definitely has an impact on popular participation. Social environment includes elements like education, occupation, income, age sex, race, caste, ethnicity, mobility and habitation. The more educated are better able to transmit their political interest and knowledge to their children and to the people of their neighbourhood.

3. Level of modernization and urbanization:

It has been argued that there is a positive correlation between these two processes and the popular participation. Both the processes help in increasing the extent of political communication which leads to greater political awareness. Urbanization as the first stage of the modernization process tends to raise literacy; increased literacy tends to increase the media exposure; and increasing media exposure facilitates wider political participation.

4. Modes of participation:

There are varieties of ways in which people can participate in the political processes of a society. Some are directly associated with the electoral sub-system and some are with other political activities. Activities like voting, campaigning, etc., are some of the important modes of participation and this can affect popular participation.

5. Political socialization:

Socialization is the mechanism by which people become aware about the issues and ideology and come to identify with a particular political party. It affects both the quality and amount of participation. The politically aware are usually better able to relate their social values to their political opinions, to achieve stable, internally consistent belief systems.

Test and Exercise

1. The process where the majority of the citizens show interest in the affairs of their government is (a)political apathy (b)political interest
2. All of these are mode of popular participation except (a)Direct/face to face (b)Telephone via mass media (c)modern mode (d)African mode.ans (d)
3. The popular participation that involves the expression of oneself through via the mass media is (a)direct popular participation (b)Modern mode (c)traditional mode (d)all of the above.ans (b)
4. Traditional mode of popular participation can also be taken for (a)modern mode (b)telephone via mass media (c)Direct/face to face (d)none of the above.ans (c)
5. Popular participation of citizens during election will have a positive effect on the nation. true/false.ans (true)