City Size and civic involvement in Metropolitan America
By: OLIVER, J. Eric
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Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: 2000American Political Science Review 94, 2, p. 361-374Abstract: Given the coincidence between America`s recent migration to smaller, suburban cities and declines in civic participation, Dahl`s speculations on the ideal-sized democratic polity have gained more pertinence. I explore the effects of city size on participation in four local civic activities using 1990 data. Controlling for both individual - and city - level characteristics, I find people in larger cities are much less likely to contact officials, attend community or organizaitonal meetings, or vote in local elections. Lower civic participation is atributable partly to differences in social relations and psychological orientation between residents of larger and smaller places. People i n big cities are less likley to be recruited for political activity by neighbors and are less intersted in local afairs. These differences occur irrespective of the size of the surrounding metropolitan area and demonstrate the importance of municipal institutions for fostering civil society. The implications for studies of participation, suburbanization, and democratic political theory are discussed
| Item type | Current location | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Periódico | Biblioteca Graciliano Ramos | Periódico | Not for loan |
Given the coincidence between America`s recent migration to smaller, suburban cities and declines in civic participation, Dahl`s speculations on the ideal-sized democratic polity have gained more pertinence. I explore the effects of city size on participation in four local civic activities using 1990 data. Controlling for both individual - and city - level characteristics, I find people in larger cities are much less likely to contact officials, attend community or organizaitonal meetings, or vote in local elections. Lower civic participation is atributable partly to differences in social relations and psychological orientation between residents of larger and smaller places. People i n big cities are less likley to be recruited for political activity by neighbors and are less intersted in local afairs. These differences occur irrespective of the size of the surrounding metropolitan area and demonstrate the importance of municipal institutions for fostering civil society. The implications for studies of participation, suburbanization, and democratic political theory are discussed
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