PARTICIPATIONS NOT A PARADOX - THE VIEW FROM AMERICAN ACTIVISTS

Political participation has long been a puzzle for political science a nalysis. The logic of collective action suggests that activity to achi eve collective goals is irrational; yet citizens are active. In this a rticle, we approach the subject from the point of view of political ac tivists, using survey data to consider their own interpretations of wh y they took part. The data show that participants recall many gratific ations from their activity and that the patterns differ substantially across modes of participation. These rewards tend to be 'political' in that activists cite both civic gratifications and the desire to achie ve collective goals more frequently than would be expected on the basi s of rational choice approaches. The variations among acts with respec t to the nature of the retrospective interpretations of the rewards th ey provide - in conjunction with open-ended responses about the issues behind activity - lend credence to respondents' accounts. The results call into question the applicability of narrow rational choice approa ches to political activity.