Not All Participation Is Equal: Asymmetry in Political, Religious, and Civic Engagement

• In Event: Political Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Political Institutions (Table 20)

Abstract

Research on collective participation has identified a consistent set of predictors of engagement, including education, race, ideology, emotions, and motivation. Yet we know far less about how different forms of engagement relate to one another. Do political, religious, and civic participation accumulate symmetrically, or does engagement in some domains disproportionately generate involvement in others? This study advances a relational theory of engagement centered on asymmetry. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of 1,000 U.S. young adults and in-depth interviews with 30 respondents, we examine whether participation in political, religious, and civic domains predicts engagement elsewhere and whether these dynamics extend over time. We integrate insights from the Civic Volunteerism Model and Self-Determination Theory to assess both entry into participation and motivational internalization. Results reveal a consistent asymmetric pattern. Civic engagement strongly predicts contemporaneous political and religious engagement and uniquely forecasts future intended engagement across domains. Political and religious engagement, in contrast, are largely domain-bound. Further, civic engagement is initially associated with externally oriented motives but, over time, predicts internally grounded motivation, net of prior participation. Interview narratives clarify the mechanisms underlying this shift: civic settings provide accessible recruitment infrastructure, low-risk environments for skill development, and repeated opportunities for competence and belonging. These features facilitate motivational internalization and expand perceived participatory capacity. Taken together, the findings reconceptualize civic engagement as participatory infrastructure rather than merely one activity among others. Participation does not simply accumulate; where engagement begins matters. By identifying civic engagement as a generative hub within a fragmented and polarized participation landscape, this study shifts analytic attention from who participates to how participation propagates across domains over time.

Authors

• Deana Rohlinger, Florida State University

• Kyle Rose, Florida State University

• Levi Mitzen, Florida State University

• Yuki Proulx Maynor, Florida State University