Explaining citizen-initiated contacts with municipal bureaucrats - Lessonsfrom the Atlanta experience

Citizen-initiated contacts represent an important, yet perplexing, category of political participation. The authors attempt to provide a comprehensive explanation of when and why citizens initiate contacts. They draw from pri or research to summarize knowledge about these contacts and the measurement problems that have plagued earlier research. To explore the bases for citi zen-initiated contacts, they use survey data on contacts with various munic ipal departments of the city of Atlanta. Logistic regressions of 15 differe nt types of contacts reveal perceived needs as the most consistently signif icant predictor of most types. The influence of socioeconomic status over c ontacting is indirect.