Participation is closely related to other concepts that pertain to decision-making such as agency and power. The levels of participation described in Sherry Arnstein’s ladder of participation foreground who has power in decision-making situations. In Arnstein’s model favors the 3 levels of participation denoted as “citizen power”. However, other models of participation assign greater value to participation that does not entail control.
Legitimate Peripheral Participation, a concept introduced by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, discuss escalating participation in a practice as an essential component of learning.