To what extent does participation in associations increase active citizenship? How does associationalism impact on the quality of citizenship? Civic engagement theory suggests that associations empower members to engage in public politics and improve the quality of democracy. Empirical demonstration of this argument outside affluent countries is rare, however, and so this paper examines associationalism in São Paulo and Mexico City. It finds that associationalism leads to higher levels of active citizenship, but does not improve the quality of citizenship practices.
‘Active citizenship’ is defined as the effort to negotiate directly with state agents for access to goods and services legally mandated for public provision. This is a narrower concept than ‘civic engagement’, which encompasses any voluntary and public spirited activity.
A typology of citizenship practices is developed, in order to capture the ‘quality’ of citizenship. ‘Institutionalised petitioning’ is seen as most closely approximating the democratic ideal. ‘Informal brokerage’ through powerful third parties, ‘contentious collective action’ targeting agents of the state and ‘collective self-provisioning’ of public goods are practices that diminish the quality of citizenship.
The extent of active citizenship is found to vary between the two cities, but its positive relationship to associationalism does not. In addition, associationalism reinforces existing citizenship practices rather than stimulating new ones. Descriptive statistics show that:
- In both cities, individuals who participate in associations have substantially higher levels of active citizenship than their counterparts who do not.
- Individuals from lower classes are less likely to participate in associations than the rest of the population. However, associationalism has a greater impact on individuals from lower classes.
- Associationalism is related to higher levels of active citizenship overall, but not to any particular types of citizenship practice. Associationalism in both cities appears to reinforce existing citizenship practices and, irrespective of class or gender positions, fails to improve or otherwise alter them.
Statistical analysis of the data reveals some characteristics of individuals that are determining factors to various forms of active citizenship. Education, labour market status, and associational participation contribute most strongly to people’s proclivity to become active citizens. Moreover:
- The causal link flows from associations to active citizenship rather than the other way around.
- The gender variable is not significant in the models. Women and men in both cities have the same proclivity to be active citizens.
- In São Paulo, being inside the labour market is an important explanatory factor. In Mexico City it is the type of labour that matters: formal employment has a negative influence and owning a business a positive one.
- Supporting associationalism among the lower classes would decrease inequalities in active citizenship.
- Reducing educational inequality is likely to increase active citizenship.
- It seems that the impact of associations on the quality of democracy is not a result of their impact on the behaviour of individual citizens. It is possible, however, that associationalism has important effects through the collective agency that it makes possible.
