Center for the Study of Democracy

This study is the first to compare the role of feelings of collective identity, or a shared sense of common fate, on the likelihood of participating in conventional (electoral) low-commitment political activity that takes little time (voting), conventional high-commitment involvement that requires more time and effort (participation in a voter registration drive), unconventional (non-electoral) low-commitment political activity (signing a petition), and unconventional high-commitment activity (participation in a protest march or demonstration). The paper concludes that collective identity is a powerful predictor of the likelihood of participation in unconventional but not conventional political activity irrespective of the level of commitment.