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Political Participation in the Social‐Democratic State A Normative‐Empirical Framework for the Analysis of Decision‐Making Involvement in Norway *
Author(s) -
Lafferty William M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1983.tb00285.x
Subject(s) - typology , normative , politics , democracy , positive economics , sociology , context (archaeology) , political science , empirical research , state (computer science) , epistemology , economics , law , paleontology , philosophy , algorithm , anthropology , computer science , biology
The purpose of the paper is to develop an integrated normative‐empirical approach for an analysis of decision‐making involvement in Norway. The analysis will be based on a national sample survey carried out in early 1981 (N = 1,650). After briefly defending the choice of ‘the social‐democratic state’ as a context‐specifying term, the discussion turns to problematizations of two central concepts: the political and participation. The result of this exercise is an ‘operational typology of decision‐making involvement’ which stipulates eight zdifferent modes of involvement in terms of survey‐operational measures. It is argued that the typology covers the entire spectrum of decision‐making involvement in Norway; that it is unique in doing so; and that the conceptual differences involved have important normative empirical consequences. These latter are then developed in relation to three dominant perspectives in participation research; the expressivist, the instrumentalist, and the developmentalist points of view. Each of these perspectives is illustrated by a specific research strategy, and concluding remarks are made on the necessary integration of all three for a fuller comprehension of decision‐making involvement in the social‐democratic state.