Why Participate in Politics? Beyond Self-Interest

Abstract

In this chapter, I first review Downs’s cost-benefit analysis, because it functions as the baseline for the alternative explanations. Then I present the various expressive and civic duty explanations. I show that both explanations are incomplete at best, in that they do not explain the five empirical factors specified above in the Introduction. Finally, I present my altruism model and show how, in principle, it can explain the established facts of voter turnout and be expanded to explain the acquisition of political information, contributions to organizations and individuals, and other forms of political participation.