Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Structure and Political Participation

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The purpose of this research is to examine how social structure affects individual political participation. I propose to conduct survey research that examines how social interaction affects individual political activity in electoral campaigns. The survey design is a cross-sectional study in St. Louis, Missouri that gathers information on the extent to which people's social relationships expose them to information, requests to be active in politics, and civic skills that can lead to political activity. The primary goal of this research is to add to our understanding of why people participate in American electoral politics. As a result, my design incorporates a component which administers the survey questionanire to the political discussants of activists. This design feature allows us to track the flow of information, skills, and requests for participation through the social structure.