Understanding participation: a literature review

This literature review focuses on England and forms part of a major national 2.5 year research project called ?Pathways through Participation: What creates and sustains active citizenship??. The project aims to explore how and why people get involved and stay involved in different forms of participation over the course of their lives. The review brings together different bodies of literature on participation, including literature on community development, volunteering, public participation, social movements, everyday politics and ethical consumption. It looks at the historical and current drivers of participation, the activities and actors of participation and different theoretical approaches that contribute to a better understanding of participation. It closes with our emerging ?participation framework? that we aim to further develop and refine in the subsequent stages of the project. Four short summaries outlining the review's key points are also available via the following link: http://pathwaysthroughparticipation.org.uk/resources/