Patterns of civic participation across europe

Pawe³ Starosta

Institute of Sociology

University of Lodz, Poland

41/43 Rewolucji str.

90-213 Poland

Tel (48) (42) 635 52 52

starosta@uni.lodz.pl

Patterns  of  Civic Participation  Across Europe

The  civic participation are strongly related to research and analysis of social capital. The main goal of  my  presentation is to make an attempt at answering three  main problem questions:

1. What is the general level of civic participation in Europe?
2. What different types of civic engagement might be distinguished in Europe on the base of trust level and civic participation level?
3. What are the main determinants of trust and civic participation?

In other words, which of the below listed models explaining the differentiation of civic engagement (Socio Economic Model; Social Capital Model; Attachment Model, Rational Choice Theory Model, Civic Voluntarism Model; Socialization Model) is best fited to explaining the changeability of the European societies’ civic engagement?

Civic participation is understood similarly to behavioral approach (Pattie, Seid, Whiteley, 2003) as an activity that is executed by the actions of citizens in the public, political and associative spheres. Such understanding of  civic participation enable distinguishing some patterns of civic engagement on the base of  civic participation level. It needs to be stressed, that civic engagement is understood as combination of trust and civic participation.

The presentation is based on the European Social Survey result’s carried out in the years 2002- 2010.