Getting in, moving up, dropping out. The threefold social selectivity of participation in political parties – an empirical analysis of party members, former party members and the general public in Germany in 2017

Abstract

Does the probability to join a political party, to become a party functionary, and to leave a party depend on individuals’ socioeconomic status? Political parties are central mediating actors between the population and the state; thus, it is reasonable to assume that unequal participation within parties fosters unequal political representation. However, due to data limitations no study has hitherto examined the social selectivity of the whole party membership cycle. We shed light on these issues by analysing original data from the German Party Membership Study 2017. We find that socially disadvantaged individuals are less likely to become and to stay party members and have a lower proclivity for holding political offices. These effects persist even after controlling for socialpsychological variables and the general incentives for party membership. However, in line with recent findings on voter turnout we show that social selectivity is partly mediated by political efficacy.