Comparative Study of the Path Choices and Effectiveness of Middle-Class Political Participation in BRICS Countries Under Differences in Institutional Environments

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_120How to use a DOI?

Keywords

BRICS Countries; Middle Class; Political Participation Paths; Political Participation Effectiveness; Institutional Environment; Educational Moderating Effect

Abstract

To explore the impact of differences in institutional environments on the political participation of the middle class in BRICS countries, this study, based on data from the World Values Survey (2017-2022) and the BRICS Governance Index, analyzes 5,820 middle-class samples (1,240 in China and 1,180 in Russia). Cross-sectional analysis, variance analysis, and regression models are employed to conduct empirical tests. The results show that the participation paths of the middle class in the BRICS countries are significantly differentiated. China’s institutionalized participation accounts for 60.2% (the highest among the five countries), India’s non-institutionalized participation accounts for 38.6% (significantly higher than China), and Brazil’s online participation accounts for 55.3% (the highest among the five countries). There is a significant correlation between “country grouping” and participation paths (χ2 =386.52, p<0.001). There are country differences in participation effectiveness (F=8.23, p < 0.001). Brazil (13.56 points) and South Africa (12.98 points) are significantly higher than Russia (9.82 points). There is no significant difference between China (11.05 points) and India (10.87 points) (p=0.92). For every 1 point increase in the openness of the institutional environment, the probability of choosing institutionalized participation increases by 1.32 times (p<0.01) and the effectiveness score increases by 0.85 points (p<0.001). Education strengthens the institutional environment and improves effectiveness (interaction term). β = 0.18, p < 0.05). Research shows that the institutional environment is a core variable shaping middle-class political participation, and individual educational resources can enhance the positive effects of the institutional environment.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Jin Qiu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/26
TI  - Comparative Study of the Path Choices and Effectiveness of Middle-Class Political Participation in BRICS Countries Under Differences in Institutional Environments
BT  - Proceeding of 2025 8th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1106
EP  - 1112
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_120
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_120
ID  - Qiu2026
ER  -