Political Participation in Mexico: A Study Regarding the Influence of Socioeconomic Resources

Abstract: The government of Mexico has a rhetorical aspiration to create a more inclusive political system and has increased the level of political rights and civil liberties for its citizens significantly. That the possibility to participate from a legal and institutional perspective exists does not necessarily indicate that all individuals participate to the same extent. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the understanding of factors that influence the individual's possibility to political participation. The research question is: in what way do the individual's levels of socioeconomic resources (education, income, employment and class) influence his/her political participation in contemporary Mexico? The author is analysing the phenomena using literature, statistics, e-mail interviews and theoretical ideas from the Civic voluntarism model. The empirical analysis is indicating that an individual that possesses a high level of socioeconomic resources has higher political participation intensity compared to less privileged individuals. The consequence is that the majority of the political power is in the hands of an economic privileged minority. This may influence the outcome of the public policy, and the traditional power structure is likely to be maintained.