Social capital and campaign participation in Australia: the curious role of NESB

Some background…

• When NESB went from a control variable to a measure of interest

• Why??

–Who are these people?

–Why doesn’t language matter?

–Why are online and offline contributions different?

The hypothesis

• NESB has a positive effect on campaign participation (but only offline; not online)

– Is recruitment important? How are NESB participants recruited?

– Does social capital matter?

Non-English-speaking

background Social capital Recruitment Participation

What is social capital?

Bridging and bonding

Data and methodology

Australian Election Study 2007

Independent variables:

- Born in an English-speaking country (binary)

- Controls (age, gender, income, employment & education)

Mediating variables:

- Most people can be trusted

- Online bridging social capital

- Online bonding social capital

Dependent variables:

- During campaign: worked for party or candidate

- During campaign: contributed money to party or candidate

Combination of descriptive and multivariate analysis (OLS and binary logistic regression)

Mean differences between ESB and NESB: characteristics

Born in English-speaking country

(n=1548)

Born in non-English speaking country

(n=268)

P (independent samples t-test)

Female 51% 53% .571

Age 51.8 53.4 .158

Education (1=no formal quals, 7=postgraduate)

3.3 3.7 .002

Employment (1=retired, 8=full-time)

4.7 4.7 .973

Political knowledge (1 to 5 correct answers)

2.5 2.0 .000

Who is in power matters (1=no, 5=yes)

3.9 3.8 .352

Who you vote for matters (1=no, 5=yes)

4.0 3.9 .163

Mean differences between ESB and NESB: social capital

Born in English-speaking country

(n=1548)

Born in non-English speaking country

(n=268)

P (independent samples t-test)

Use internet to interact with people with (1=not at all, 4=a lot):

Shared hobbies 2.1 2.1 .799

Shared religion 1.2 1.5 .000

Shared political beliefs 1.2 1.4 .034

Different ethnic backgrounds

1.4 1.7 .000

Different countries 1.9 2.3 .000

Different ages 1.8 1.9 .124

Family and friends 2.8 2.9 .230

Most people can be trusted (1=yes)

58% 49% .008

Differences between ESB and NESB: participation

Born in English-speaking country

(n=1548)

Born in non-English speaking country

(n=268)

P (independent samples t-test)

Campaign participation:

Discussed politics 94% 91% .124

Talked about vote 36% 50% .000

Went to meetings/rallies 9% 12% .120

Worked for party/cand 19% 26% .013

Contributed money 5% 10% .004

Other forms of participation (in five years between 2002 and 2007):

Contacted an official 25% 19% .031

Protested/marched 13% 14% .706

Signed written petition 46% 33% .000

Signed e-petition 17% 17% .990

Worked with others 24% 25% .590

Multivariate analysis: predicting social capital

Most people can be trusted (OLS)

Online bridging social capital (log.)

Online bonding social capital (log.)

Born in English-speaking country

.578 (.158)** -.566 (.208)** -.155 (.268)

Educational attainment

.135 (.028)** .150 (.034)** .323 (.043)**

Employment status -.005 (.029) -.169 (.038)** -.181 (.049)**

Live in a major city .103 (.039)** .130 (.052)** .100 (.067)

Household income .047 (.014)** .019 (.018) .024 (.023)

Age .219 (.044)** -.053 (.005)** -.058 (.007)**

Sex (female) -.130 (.111) .105 (.143) .315 (.184)*

Constant -.130 (.425) 7.560 (.578) 10.897 (.748)

R-squared .083 (pseudo) .120 .119

Multivariate analysis: predicting campaign participation

During campaign: worked for party or candidate(log.)

During campaign: contributed money to party or candidate (log.)

ESB -.489 (.213)* -.739 (.307)**

Age .153 (.062)* .188 (.102)

Educational attainment .012 (.037) .062 (.060)

Employment status .081 (.042)* .037 (.066)

Live in a major city -.069 (.057) -.127 (.087)

Household income .007 (.019) .041 (.032)

Sex (female) -.148 (.156) -.671 (.255)**

Most people can be trusted .262 (.109)** -.125 (.255)

Online bonding social capital .110 (.031)** .132 (.047**

Online bridging social capital .051 (.039) -.023 (.062)

Constant -3.076 (.635) -3.289 (.991)

Nagelkerke R-squared .071 .072

Discussion

• Do Australians with NESB have higher levels of social capital than those from English-speaking countries? Yes.

• Do those high levels of social capital explain disproportionate campaign participation? No.