Political Participation in Finland -- Examining the Extent and Driving Forces of Political Engagement

Political participation is a multidimensional phenomenon that ranges from activities in institutionalized forms of engagement such as activities in political parties to participation in episodic and non-institutionalized protest activities. Despite the marked differences among these forms of engagement, there is a lack of knowledge as to what characterizes the participants in certain forms of engagement, especially when it comes to newer forms such as political consumption and participation via the internet. The purpose of this study is to contribute to this research area by profiling participants in four forms of participation in Finland with the help of three theories of participation: socio-economic resources, political integration, and associational involvement. The data is the Finnish election survey 2007 (FSD2269), which is a representative sample with 1,422 respondents carried out after the parliamentary election in 2007. The results indicate that there are distinct participatory profiles for each of the forms of participation examined. Adapted from the source document.