ABSTRACT
Most empirical scholarship on political participation makes a distinction between ‘active
participation’ and ‘passive non-participation’ in democratic societies. Active participation
is associated with the concept of ‘voice’, which is variably described as ‘empowered’,
‘mobilized’, or ‘engaged’, whereas passive non-participation is associated with the
concept of ‘silence’, which is variably described as ‘apathetic’, ‘disadvantaged’, or
‘alienated’. But are all forms of voice in democratic societies the same? Are all forms of
silence the same?
