Significance and Prerequisite for the Feeling of Political Effectiveness

Topics: attitude to legitimacy of the social system and satisfaction with democracy in the Federal Republic; most important reason for national pride; feeling of political effectiveness or powerlessness (scales); issue relevance and desired extent of government activities, related to these issues; efficiency of political system in these areas (Kaase index); frequency and time expended for information about political events as well as for political conversations; preferred sources of information; eligibility to vote at the last Federal Parliament election and regularity of election participation; feeling of obligation to participate in elections (scale); postmaterialism index (short and long version of the scale); preferred protest form and personal readiness for political participation (scale); fatalism; detailed determination of participation success in school, family, the job area, in political organizations as well as on various political levels; representative participation success through friends or relatives as well as political reference groups; social origins.

The following questions were also posed to members of the Federal German Armed Forces: length of belonging to the Federal German Armed Forces; type of service relationship and service grade. Demography: age; sex; place of birth; local residency; religious denomination; frequency of church attendance; school education; vocational training; further education; size of place of residence and length of residence; occupation of father or mother; self-assessment of social class (categories provided).