The Inequality of Participation: Re-examining the Role of Social Stratification and Post-Communism on Political Participation in Europe

This article compares the determinants of political participation, across 23 European countries, posing the question whether and to what degree social inequalities in political participation differ between post-communist and Western countries. The data for the analysis is from the second round of the ESS survey, conducted in 2004-2005. The article’a analysis demonstrates that the effect of social stauts variables, and mainly gender, on political participaiton are larger across post-communist countries than they are in Western Europe.