Examining the Psychosocial Hurdles on Effective Public Participation. A Keynote Towards Enhancing Participation in the Political Milieu

Abstract

Public participation may be referred to as a pathway to express the personal interest of individuals and the general society in reference to the development plans, based on the premise that the planning activities would have an effect on the public generally and certain groups specifically. The current study explored public participation narrowing the scope on public and political decision-making processes, significance and the dynamism of participation. Certain factors have a tendency to hamper effective political participation and efforts are made to further review some of these factors from the psychosocial perspective. The study specifically reviewed the psychosocial factors limiting the review on the concepts of social loafing, social conformity and in-group out-group phenomenon. It is suggested that mechanisms and designs that would highly foster collaboration among political and social divides in the political arena should be prioritized to mitigate these psychosocial effects that hinders effective participation.

Keywords: Public Participation, Social loafing, Social Conformity, In-group, Out-group, Psychosocial, Decision-making.