Political participation and life satisfaction: a cross‐European analysis

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to model the link between political participation and life satisfaction whilst correcting for the endogenous nature of the relationship; explore the impact of different strengths of political participation and aim to uncover if the relationship displays different patterns by gender. Design/methodology/approach -The data originate from the 2006/2007 European Social Survey. The analysis spanned across a pooled data set for 20 European countries. Three alternative empirical frameworks were trialled: an ordered probit regression, a linear regression model and a two-step, simultaneous treatment effect model to address endogeneity concerns. Findings -Following the correction for endogeneity via two-step, simultaneous treatment regressions, political participation -and specifically strong political engagement -displays a robust, statistically significant, strong and positive impact on life satisfaction. It was deduced that actual political participation, and not merely the right to participate in the political process, is a source of procedural utility.Research limitations/implications -The cross-sectional nature of the data imposes design limitations to examining trends and changes over time. It follows that the analysis cannot rely on fixed-effect estimations to control for time-invariant factors. Originality/value -Once the results are corrected for endogeneity, the empirical results reveal that the effect of actual political participation on life satisfaction not only matters, but also as the strength of political engagement grows it matters even more. Findings hold true even when a multitude of socio-demographic characteristics are controlled for. These are important results for researchers and policy makers who are concerned about the happiness of people in democratic societies.

Social and Psychological Factors of Political Participation according to Recent European Social Survey Data

“…Flavin and Keane (2012), who examined the relationship between life satisfaction and political participation using data from the ANES 2000 (American National Election Study), concluded that this link is confined to non-conflictual forms of participation only; no relationship was found as regards engagement in political protest. Pacheco and Lange (2010) in the ESS 2006 data found that only one kind of political participation activity -membership or collaboration with a political partyhas a positive effect on life satisfaction. In our results, not only were the well-being indicators -satisfaction with life as a whole and general happiness -of more politically participative individuals higher, but also satisfaction with different areas of social life (with government, the way democracy works, with the state of the economy and the state of health services).…”

EU enlargement and satisfaction with democracy: a peculiar case of immiserizing growth

“…2 Recent research has not only highlighted the role of political regimes and institutions, but almost consequently also shifted attention to satisfaction with democracy in particular. Karp et al (2003), for instance, examine whether EU institutions are considered as legitimate, Pacheco and Lange (2010) investigate the role of political participation. Wagner et al (2009) identify institutional quality as an important input with respect to measures of regime satisfaction, as do Bjørnskov et al (2010).…”

Subjective well‐being and political participation: Empirical evidence from Ghana

“…Controlling for language and religion, the authors found no significant effect of political participation on subjective well‐being. In another study based on data from the 2006/2007 European Social Survey, Pacheco and Lange () found that political participation had a statistically significant, strong, and positive effect on life satisfaction, after dealing with endogeneity problems through a two‐step regression modeling procedure. Similarly, using data from the 18 AmericasBarometer country surveys, Weitz‐Shapiro and Winters () initially found a positive association between voting and life satisfaction in Latin America, albeit that the relationship was attenuated in countries with enforced compulsory voting.…”