9
those who possess civic skills “are more likely to be effective when they get involved in
politics” (1995, 273). The confidence bred by civic skills thus alters not only the costs of
participating but the perceived odds of success. If would-be participants feel more
efficacious, they may be more likely to participate. Thus individuals who have practiced
civic skills in the group context should be more likely to participate in politics.
Leadership Experience
One of the best ways to pick up participant-relevant skills is by holding a position
of leadership within an organization. Group leaders are called on to perform many
“transferable” tasks, from recruiting members to running meetings. Some might argue
that filling an office within a voluntary organization necessarily leads to the civic skills.
But the temporal ordering of skill acquisition and leadership may be complex. Do
organizational leaders acquire civic skills in the process of their duties, or are they
recruited to such posts because they already possess the requisite abilities? Without
longitudinal data from specific organizations the temporal story is difficult to untangle.
Precisely because civic skills and leadership are so closely intertwined,
2
it is important to
account for both while remaining vigilant about multicollinearity. Moreover, the demands
of leadership may not be captured in the skill measure, which but doesn’t account for
fundraising, committee work, and the like. Finally, leadership should be tested separately
because the leaders of sports clubs, service groups, and religious organizations may be
special targets of mobilization attempts by political elites (Rosenstone and Hansen 1993).
2
They are significantly correlated in the CPS data (r=.52).
Convention