Development of educational inequalities in political participation in Czech Republic and Slovakia and their implications for representation of attitudes
Abstract
Citizen participation in the political process is a key tenet of democratic government. Using data from post-election surveys covering all post-communist elections and European Social Survey 2002-2014, this paper studies how political participation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been stratified based on educational attainment.
Educational inequalities in turnout increased substantively in both countries and are currently much more pronounced than in established western democracies. Educational inequalities in non-electoral participation are greater than inequalities in turnout.
University graduates participate significantly more often than people of lower educational attainment. In combination with significant differences in attitudes towards income redistribution, gender equality and immigration, unequal participation constitutes conditions for unequal political voice.
Nevertheless, this paper shows that educational inequalities in political participation and differences in attitudes do not automatically translate into equally strong distortions in attitude representation.