Associational Participation and Political Involvement in Macau : A Path Analysis

This article employs a pathmodel analysis to test a mobilization version of social participation theory in the context of a non-Western society, Macau. Our study represents an advance on previous work because we compare the relative importance of civic skills and political interest in transmitting the effects of associational life to political participation. We find that, as in the West, voluntary organizations in non-Western societies act as 'schools of democracy' in which individuals acquire civic skills and become more interested in politics. There is no direct causal relationship between associational participation and political involvement; the effects of associational participation on political involvement are mediated through civic skills and political interest, with the former playing a bigger role as a mediator.