A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ATTITUDES TOWARD CITIZEN PARTICIPATION HELD BY ELECTED OFFICIALS, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATORS, AND CITIZENS

This study examines the attitudes towards participation and the participation activities of citizens, elected officials, and administrators in two communities. An evaluation of the citizen participation requirements in the Community Development Block Grant Program is undertaken with an emphasis on the role of the private citizen in local governmental policy making. The perceptions of citizens, elected officials, and administrators of participation requirements are analyzed and the similarities and differences in the participation attitudes and actions of these three sets of political actors are discussed. These political actors are found to hold similar positive attitudes toward participation in local affairs, but they differ significantly in the amount of participation which they undertake. While elected officials and administrators show the expected higher rates of participation than citizens, there is evidence in Columbus, Mississippi and Lafayette, Indiana of greater rates of citizen participation than previous studies of other communities have found. Personal political efficacy, issue salience, attitude toward participation, and socioeconomic status are found to be the most important variables in explaining citizens\u27 participation. Citizen participation in and knowledge of the CDBG Program, in contrast, is found to be minimal