Classes of civic engagement in the US population
Study purpose
One of the purposes of the National Survey of American Civic Health was to identify the different profiles of civic engagement among Americans. We aimed at grounding this typology on what people do (Weerts, Cabrera, and Mejías 2014; David J. Weerts and Alberto F. Cabrera 2018) rather than on what people say they would like to do.
Methodology
The civic health survey captures indicators of the different constructs that make up the antecedents of the civic health model (Weerts, Cabrera & Van Dorn, 2022). The survey was administered to more than 5,000 Americans from spring to summer 2021. The sample matches the US census related to race/ethnicity, gender, age (over 18), and educational attainment
The 12 civic behaviors selected were the most representative of four domains of civism. Those dimensions are:
Voting behavior
Political advocacy
Volunteer behavior
Charitable giving behavior
These behaviors displayed the highest loading in their corresponding civic domain. They also displayed the highest levels of information and discrimination in their civic dimension.
Civic engagement in the US population
The high heterogeneity in the engagement of the 12 civic behaviors was explained by 5 classes as revealed by a latent class analysis. Each class displays a unique profile of civic engagement.
| Class | Description |
|---|---|
| Lightship: Fully engaged voters | This class represents a small group of individuals who are strongly predisposed to be engaged in all 12 civic behaviors. It is the only class that participates in all forms of political action (e.g., rallies, unpaid lobbying, participate or donate to political organizations) |
| Tugboat: Active benevolent voters | It represents a quarter of the US population that are reliable voters and active volunteers for a variety of non-profit organizations. They also financially support non-profits and give to food drives. However, they display low propensities to be involved in political action (e.g., rallies, unpaid lobbying, participate in/donate to political organizations) |
| Cruise ship: Charitable passive voters | This class represents nearly one quarter of the US population. Members are reliable voters and are strongly predisposed to give to non-profit organizations. They are also prone to donate to food or clothing drives. However, they are less predisposed to volunteer to non-profit organizations, nor are they prone to engage in any kind of political action (e.g., political campaigns) |
| Tender boat: Voter-only citizens | It represents the largest class of citizens whose civic behavior is characterized the most by voting. Members of this class display low propensities for philanthrophy, volunteerism and political action. However, they show some propensity to contribute to food or clothing drives |
| Submarine: Disengaged citizens | This small class displays low propensity for civic engagement. Members’ predispositions to charity are confined, at most, to contributing to food or clothing drives |
Figure 1 Civic orientations
References
Weerts, D. J., Cabrera, A.F. & Van Dorn, K., (2022). Antecedents of Individual Civic Health. American Center for Political Leadership, Southeastern University, Lakeland FL.
References
David J. Weerts, and Alberto F. Cabrera. 2018. “Alumni Giving as Civic Expression.” Philanthropy & Education 2 (1): 1. https://doi.org/10.2979/phileduc.2.1.01.
Weerts, David J., Alberto F. Cabrera, and Paulina Pérez Mejías. 2014. “Uncovering Categories of Civically Engaged College Students: A Latent Class Analysis.” The Review of Higher Education 37 (2): 141–68. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2014.0008.