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Political participation is a potent instrument for upholding and enhancing government legitimacy while providing a crucial avenue for citizens to articulate their views and safeguard their interests (Liu et al., 2021). The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China underscored the imperative to “expand the organized political engagement of the populace” (Xi, 2017; Liu et al., 2021). Organized political participation, often called institutionalized political participation, pertains to citizens’ involvement in the public political sphere through various methods compliant with legal and policy frameworks. This engagement influences the composition, operation, regulations, and policy processes of the political system (Wang, 2005; Liu et al., 2021). Notable forms of organized political participation encompass grassroots elections, policy-making hearings, online policy consultations, and submission of recommendations.
The elderly population holds a considerable share in China, and the political engagement of seniors plays a pivotal role in the government’s governance processes. Hence, it is imperative to focus on the political participation of the elderly. As of 2020, mainland China’s population aged 60 and above reached 264 million, constituting 18.7% of the overall populace. Over the past two decades since transitioning into an aging society in 2000, the proportion of elderly citizens has ascended by 8.4 percentage points. With the deepening of demographic aging, age has acquired increasing political relevance (Lau & Redlawsk, 2008). Moreover, under predefined parameters related to ethnicity, economic status, and marital status, the elderly exhibit higher political participation rates than other age cohorts (Yang & Ou, 2014). Political participation among the elderly assumes dual roles: a vital avenue for realizing their citizenship rights and a manifestation of active aging. At the micro level, it enables the elderly to advocate for their interests, augment their consciousness of rights, strengthen their political responsibility, and experience personal growth and value during the process. Concurrently, elderly political participation is conducive to sustaining and reinforcing community identity and social cohesion. On a macro scale, it advances the democratization and rationalization of public decision-making processes, thereby playing a pivotal role in the seamless operation of the overall political and societal framework (Ding et al., 2019).
Presently, academic inquiry has embarked on quantitative investigations to discern the pivotal determinants of institutionalized political participation among the elderly, encompassing facets such as political efficacy, political trust, and authoritarian predispositions. Nonetheless, a conspicuous gap exists in the scholarly discourse concerning the nuanced factors influencing institutionalized political participation among elderly women. Women, specifically elderly women, occupying a niche within marginalized demographics, wield substantial influence in the political participation panorama of Chinese citizens. Consequently, they represent a focal demographic in the pursuit of expanding organized political engagement by the populace. In light of historical and individual contextual constraints, the existing sociopolitical structures fall short of catering to the political participation aspirations of rural Chinese women, warranting heightened scholarly and societal attention. For the female demographic, there is a conspicuous dearth of research focusing on the institutionalized political participation of women, and existing studies lack alignment with the real-world context, especially when it comes to investigating the institutionalized political participation behavior of elderly women.
This article explores the key factors that influence the institutionalized political participation behavior of elderly women. The objective is to provide insights and fill this void in the existing body of literature. The research question of this paper is: What factors influence the institutionalized political participation of elderly women in China?