Employment Status,Social Capital,and Political Participation: A Comparison of Unemployed and Employed Youth in Geneva

Abstract: This paper examines the relationships between employment status, social capital, and the participation of young people in different kinds of political activities such as contacting, consumer, and protest activities. We focus on the role of social capital for political participation, addressing three related questions: Do unemployed and employed youth display different levels of social capital and political participation? Does social capital favor the political participation of unemployed and employed youth? Is social capital more important for unemployed youth than for employed youth? To address these questions we compare long‐term unemployed youth to regularly employed youth using original survey data. Our analysis suggests that the employment status has only a limited impact on political participation, affecting only consumer actions. In contrast, the social capital resulting from associational involvement is positively correlated to political participation. However, rather than countering the effect of exclusion from the labor market, it plays a similar role for unemployed youth and employed youth.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: STRIKES: Studies in Twentieth Century Australian Social History. Edited by John Iremonger, John Merrit and Graeme Osborne. THE STUART AFFAIR. By Sir Roderic Chamberlain. THE EVIDENCE OF THE BIGGE REPORTS: New South Wales under Governor Macquarie. Selected and edited by John Ritchie. HISTORICAL RECORDS OF PORT PHILLIP: The First Annals of the Colony of Victoria. Edited by John J. Shillinglaw. THE MACQUARIE DECADE: Documents illustrating the History of New South Wales 1810–1821. AUSTRALIAN NAVAL ADMINISTRATION 1900–1939. By R. Hyslop. CRISES AND AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMACY. By C. Bell. BRITISH DEFENCE POLICY EAST OF SUEZ. By P. Darby. DEFENCE PERSPECTIVES. Edited by K. Keith. THE MODERNISATION IMPERATIVE AND INDIAN PLANNING. By Baldev Raj Nayar. INDIA'S DEMOCRACY. By A.H. Hanson and Janet Douglas. London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1972. Pp. 236. Two tables. $9.65, $4.35 paper. GANDHI'S RISE TO POWER: Indian Politics 1915–1922. By Judith M. Brown. EVERY FIFTH CHILD: The Population of China. By Leo A. Orleans. THE CHINESE YOUTH PARTY 1923–1945. By Chan Lau Kit-ching. WAGE PATTERNS AND WAGE POLICY IN MODERN CHINA 1919–1972. By Christopher Howe. THE INTERNAL POLITICS OF CHINA 1949–1972. By Jüirgen Domes. THE STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, 1826–67: Indian Presidency to Crown Colony. By C.M. Turnbull. VITI: An Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands 1860–1861. By Berthold Seemann; edited by Philip A. Snow. Colonial History Series Number 85. THE FOUNDERS OF CANTERBURY. Edited by Edward Jerningham Wakefield; and an introduction by Peter Burroughs. Colonial History Series Number 86. A VOYAGE TO AND FROM THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. By Daniel Beeckman; and an introduction by Chin Yoon Fong. Colonial History Series Number 87. CONFLICT BEHAVIOUR AND LINKAGE POLITICS. Edited by Jonathan Wilkenfeld. POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES: Studies in National, Comparative and International Politics. Edited by Dusan Sidjanski. THE POLITICS OF MOTION: The World of Thomas Hobbes. By T.A. Spragens jr. DEPENDENCE AND OPPORTUNITY: Political Change in Ahafo. By John Dunn and A.F. Robertson. THE PRICE OF LIBERTY: Personality and Politics in Colonial Nigeria. By Kenneth W.J. Post and George D. Jenkins. FROM RESISTANCE TO REVOLUTION: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765–1776. By Pauline Maier. ELITE ACCOMMODATION IN CANADIAN POLITICS. By Robert Presthus. THE SELECTION OF NATIONAL PARTY LEADERS IN CANADA. By John C. Courtney. THE INFLUENCE OF THE UNITED STATES ON CANADIAN DEVELOPMENT: Eleven Case Studies. Edited by Richard A. Preston. ANGLO-AMERICAN POLITICS, 1660–1765: The Relationship between Parties in England and Colonial America. By A.G. Olson. THE ECONOMICS AND POLITICS OF SOCIALISM: Collected Essays. By Wlodzimierz Brus. THE SOVIET UNION IN WORLD AFFAIRS: A Documented Analysis, 1964–1972. By W.W. Kulski. HITLERS STRATEGY 1940–41: The Balkan Clue. By Martin L. van Crefeld. HITLERS FREE CITY: A History of the Nazi Party in Danzig, 1925–39. By Herbert S. Levine. FRENCH CAPITALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By Guy P. Palmade. Translated with an Introduction by Graeme M. Holmes. THE POLICE AND THE PEOPLE: French Popular Protest, 1789–1820. By R.C. Cobb. TURGOT ON PROGRESS, SOCIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS. Translated, edited and with an introduction by Ronald L. Meek. LAFAYETTE IN THE FRENCH REVOLUTION: From the October Days through the Federation. By Louis Gottschalk and Margaret Maddox. THE MEN OF THE FIRST FRENCH REPUBLIC: Political alignments in the National Convention of 1792. By Alison Patrick. THE PRO-BOERS: The Anatomy of Antiwar Movement. Edited with an introduction by Stephen Koss. THE BALANCE POINT BETWEEN LOCAL AUTONOMY AND NATIONAL CONTROL. By S.E.M. Sadek. UMNAO AND THE PRICE OF LASTING PEACE. By Edgar Ansel Mowrer and Lillian T. Mower.     

Patterns of democracy reconsidered: The ambiguous relationship between corporatism and consensualism

Arend Lijphart's Patterns of Democracy, similar to most of his work, elicited fierce scientific debate. This article replicates some of the analyses proposed in its second edition (published in 2012) in the light of the critiques received by the first edition (published in 2009). It primarily examines the relationship between institutional setup and interest group representation, disentangling the effect of consensualism from that of corporatism on issues such as macroeconomic performance and governance capabilities. The article further deepens our understanding of the complex causal mechanisms connecting these variables, proposing a more sophisticated empirical investigation that emphasises selection effects and conjunctural causation.