|
|
Contributing
money to a political candidate or campaign and attending politcal rallies,
among the electoral forms of participation and engaging in protest over
a problem in the community, among non-electoral forms, follow as the activities
Puerto Ricans get involved after voting and contacting.
In these instances the rates of involvement are even lower than for the
activities previously mentioned, not even reaching 15% of the respondents.
In terms of a pattern, similar results apply to other groups in the sample,
in so far as being activities that elicit lower involvement than contacting
or voting. In these activities, however, the rate of involvement between
Puerto Ricans and whites is similar when attending rallies or participating
in protests but again lower for Puerto Ricans when it comes to providing
funds or working for a political candidate or campaign turns out to be
the activities they participate in the least with just over 5%.
These results provide us with a much wider view of what participation
is like for Puerto Ricans living in the United States. It appears, in
effect, political involvement is lower for among Puerto Ricans in comparison
to other groups in the United States. But not in every form of political
activity. And why is this? This disparity in political participation may
be explained through socio-economic status. In fact that is the prevailing
theory in the United States. It advances that there is a close correlation
between socio-economic status which involves education, income and occupation
with political participation where higher status individuals have a greater
likelihood to be politcally active.
Puerto Ricans in the United States, by virtue of their position in the
socio-economic ladder, are, therefore, not expected to be very active
in politics. Overall low educational attainment, lower earnings and lower
status occupations that have been characteristic of Puerto Ricans as a
group for 50 years would account for the lower turnout to the polls, or
their lower levels of contributing to a political candidate or party,
or to their lesser likelihood of contacting an elected official about
a problem.
However, while these behavioral observations have been consistent over
time, they fall short of providing an explanation as to what causes political
participation. Moreover, in so far as Puerto Rican political participation
is concerned, socio-economic status may describe conditions in the United
States but do not necessarily address what takes place on the island where
high rates of electoral participation across socio-economic classes are
commonplace.
|
