Why We Vote: How Schools and Communities Shape Our Civic Life

by David E. Campbell

Why do more people vote--or get involved in other civic and political activities--in some communities than in others? Why We Vote demonstrates that our communities shape our civic and political engagement, and that schools are especially significant communities for fostering strong civic norms.


Much of the research on political participation has found that levels of participation are higher in diverse communities where issues important to voters are hotly contested. In this well-argued book, David Campbell finds support for this view, but also shows that homogenous communities often have very high levels of civic participation despite a lack of political conflict.


Campbell maintains that this sense of civic duty springs not only from one's current social environment, but also from one's early influences. The degree to which people feel a sense of civic obligation stems, in part, from their adolescent experience. Being raised and thus socialized in a community with strong civic norms leads people to be civically engaged in adulthood. Campbell demonstrates how the civic norms within one's high school impact individuals' civic involvement--even a decade and a half after those individuals have graduated.


Efforts within America's high schools to enhance young people's sense of civic responsibility could have a participatory payoff in years to come, the book concludes; thus schools would do well to focus more attention on building civic norms among their students.

280 pages, Hardcover

First published July 17, 2006

About the author

David E. Campbell is the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the co-author American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us and Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics, as well as numerous other publications on religion, civic engagement, and American politics. Campbell is a nationally recognized expert in the study of religion's role in American politics.

Reviews

[Stephanie Quesnelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extensive empirical analysis about the factors influencing political engagement. He argues both political heterogeneity and homogeneity in a community increase voter turnout. In the former situation, for political reasons to advance a policy agenda. In the latter, for civic duty reasons to comply with community norms.

There's a ton of evidence and it's broken out into pretty understandable chapters. Particularly interesting to me is how influential adolescent civic experiences, such as volunteering, were to predicting later adult-life political engagement.

[Ellie Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hype