An approach to the effects and characteristics of political participation through donations in political crowdfunding campaigns in Spain

Abstract

This work is structured around two exploratory objectives. Firstly, it aims to analyse the effects of connective participation and consumption in which donations in political crowdfunding campaigns can be framed. Secondly, it will study the characteristics and socio-demographic profile of the people who donate to political crowdfunding campaigns. In order to obtain information, we have developed a questionnaire that has resulted in a non-probabilistic purposive sample of one hundred and twenty-five valid and complete responses. The paper closes with a discussion and the presentation of two hypotheses that reflect the main findings of this exploratory study. On the one hand, the characteristics and profile of the participants would be predominantly male, middle-aged (thirty-six to fifty years old), with a high level of formal education (university studies) and a medium income level. On the other hand, the participation analysed is hegemonic among activists with experience and commitment. This fact could reflect an increase in participatory inequalities between participatory and nonparticipatory people as a consequence of the characteristics of the forms of connective action and consumption.