民主的基石為政治參與，在政治參與的過程當中，多元或者是歧異的政治意見，從公民端傳達到政府決策端。因此，當不同利益、不同意識形態，與不同政黨傾向的選民參與各式各樣的政治活動時，容易導致人際間的衝突；或者因為企圖影響政府施政而與官方代表或者維持秩序的警察發生口角甚至是肢體衝突。換言之，絕大部分的政治參與可能與華人文化中所蘊含的和諧元素不相容。另一方面，政治參與也有可能象徵公民社會齊心協力來決定公眾事務，進而賦予政府統治的正當性，在這種時候政治參與就與和諧觀性質一致。本文的基調是和諧觀者會放棄政治衝突性質的政治參與，如示威、遊行、抗議與向媒體或者在網路上爆料。另一方面，和諧觀者會參與支持政權穩定與民主共識的政治活動，主要是投票行為。本文藉由2003 年｢台灣選舉與民主化調查｣民調資料來做假設檢證，分析結果與衍生出來的意涵依序在文中探究。

Political participation serves as foundation for democracy. In the process ofpolitical participation, a variety of political opinions are conveyed to decision makersfrom the electorate. Thus, when different interests, ideologies and party supportscompete with each other via political participation, interpersonal confrontation oreven conflict will inevitably occur. These conflicts can occur between voters ofdifferent interests or between citizen participants and government. I argue that thecultural element of social harmony in Chinese society is hardly compatible withseveral participation acts. These acts have the nature of conflict, confrontation andcacophony and include political protests and making complaints related to politics viathe news media or the Internet. On the other hand, though, social harmony motivatescitizens to support the legitimacy of their government in the way that those citizensparticipate in political activities that are encouraged by the government. Votingbelongs to this case. In other words, voting behavior is theoretically compatible withsocial harmony. I rely on the 2003 TEDS to examine several theoretical hypotheses.Findings are reported and philosophical discussion flowing from it is offered as well.