Socioeconomic Status Influences Political Participation

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Who Participates A democracy grants us the right to political participation. Political participation is the act of participating in things such as voting, campaigning, and running for office. The most common form that takes is going to the polls and voting. However, many people don’t take part in these things. Political participation can be influenced by many different things such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and age. Socioeconomic status heavily influences political participation in the Unites States, and can lead to some being underrepresented. People’s income, levels of education, and occupation all determine what someone’s socioeconomic status is (“Socioeconomic Status”). At the root of socioeconomic status is someone’s financial status. In order to have a higher level of education you need to have money to pay for it. If you don’t have the funds for a higher level of education you will be far less likely to acquire a well-paying job. This is a roadblock to participating in politics; you have neither the funds nor means to participate if you have a low socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic Status isn’t the only thing that can affect political participation. Age and ethnicity can also …show more content…

According to an article by John Wihbey, “…a 2012 study published in the journal Nature…suggested that certain messages promoted by friends increased turnout directly by about 60,000 voters and indirectly through social contagion by another 280,000 voters, for a total of 340,000 additional votes” (“How does social media use influence political participation and civic engagement?”). This is a fairly large number of people and it shows that social media can help you feel more involved and can even make you want to take part in voting or discussing policies on social media platforms such as Twitter or

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