The cognitive mobilization of organizational participation: missing evidence from Italy (1972–2006)

The Cognitive Mobilization thesis (CM) claims that the increasing educational levels in post-industrial societies bring about changes in the relationship between people's education and their participatory behaviour compared to the past. Younger, well-educated and more politically interested citizens are less likely to participate in political parties than poorly educated citizens, but more likely to join unconventional types of activist organisations. Using Italy as a test case, this study looks at whether the CM mechanism ought to be considered as a key factor shaping organizational participatory trends over time. Contrary to the CM thesis, we find that the highly educated continue to participate the most in political parties and that the gap between well and poorly educated in terms of their participation in activist associations does not become larger compared to the past.