More complicated than we thought: An examination of political knowledge, efficacy, and engagement in the comparative context
Bail, Kristin Marie
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121348
Description
Title
More complicated than we thought: An examination of political knowledge, efficacy, and engagement in the comparative context
Author(s)
Bail, Kristin Marie
Issue Date
2023-07-11
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Althaus, Scott
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Althaus, Scott
Committee Member(s)
Canache, Damarys
Mondak, Jeffrey J
Winters, Matthew
Department of Study
Political Science
Discipline
Political Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
political knowledge
political sophistication
political engagement
political efficacy
comparative behavior
Abstract
Despite its theoretical grounding as a tool citizens use to facilitate the practice of democracy, empirical social science research typically relies on unidimensional measurement strategies developed for use in the US, wherein a parsimonious index emphasizing civics facts serves as a proxy for latent skills or abilities such as political sophistication. Such a strategy may be appropriate in an ideologically sorted, two-party system such as the United States, but rests on uncertain validity where the practice of politics is characterized by more volatile party systems, revolves around individuals rather than parties, or centers identities unrelated to ideology. In my dissertation, I consider how cross-national variation in characteristics of political systems influences the accumulation of political knowledge in different political contexts. Throughout, I leverage data from multiple cross-national surveys, spanning over 80 individual countries, to demonstrate that the discipline’s current approach to political knowledge underestimates the true complexity of how the information citizens use to navigate their political environments is organized and distributed. First, I use tests of dimensionality to provide evidence that appropriately structured batteries in low- and middle-income countries demonstrate multiple political knowledge dimensions. Second, I consider how institutional contexts are related to the type and amount of information present in a system, demonstrating the differential impact of electoral and party systems on national and subnational types of knowledge. Third, I assess the relationship between political knowledge and key attitudinal and behavioral outcomes such as political efficacy and participation, indicating that relationships between different types of political knowledge and participation vary according to the mode of engagement. In so doing, I demonstrate that standard knowledge batteries frequently mask the broader dynamics of what citizens know about politics.
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