The variety of the motives in political civic leaders' participation : What is 'the composite citizenship' in political participation

Abstract

Participants in civic movement sector have been considerably less influenced as one of Japanese political actors. The main reason for it is that their activities are not fully institutionalized, and their absolute population is small. Some people are, however, politically active for resolving social conflicts. They could be handled as different people, and not be explained by the rational choice theory. This paper demonstrates why they can be active in political participation by making full use of our data. But they can't take a unitary description, their civic consciousness are composed of plural motives. The most typical motive is a civic duty that is descendant from influential ancestors as their reference group, and they have the normative consciousness canalized by family model. The rest of the examinants have strong political principle and ideology that formed in their youth by contact with honorable others. But these motives are not exclusive one another and have the interface between them. It could be supposed to set 'the composite citizenship' to appreciate their civic participation.