Engaging the brain as well as the heart: Political literacy and social media platforms (original) (raw)
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This paper will present the results from a project that follows on from a national survey completed by the lead researcher in 2002. That earlier study identified a significant degree of disengagement from politics amongst British 18 year olds, of whom only 39% voted at the 2001 General Election. Crucially, it found that this disengagement rested upon a high degree of youth distrust and scepticism about "formal politics", and particularly of professional politicians. Since the 2002 study, policy makers have become increasingly concerned about the continuing lack of engagement that young people have with the formal political process in Britain. The current study began in 2011, and focuses upon a new generation of young people a decade on from the previous research. By analysing early findings from the current study's survey data, we shall examine the views that youth have about formal politics now, and how these may differ in comparison to those expressed by the 2002 cohort. The study is innovative in its use of online methods, and is based on a national online questionnaire survey amongst 1,025 18-year olds, including voters and non-voters.
Young People, Political Participation and Trust in Britain
2012
Young people in Britain are often characterised as disconnected from the formal political process and from democratic institutions. Certainly their rate of abstention in general election contests over the last decade has led to concerns amongst the political classes that they have a disaffection from politics that is deeply entrenched and more so than was the case with previous youth generations, and may in the future become habit-forming. In this article, we consider the results from an online national survey of 1025 British 18 year olds conducted in 2011, and compare these with the results from a similar study conducted by one of the authors in 2002. In doing so, our aim is to assess the extent to which young people's levels of political engagement have changed over the course of the intervening years, and if so, how they have changed. The results from this comparison indicate that, contrary to popular wisdom, today's generation of young people are interested in political affairs, and they are keen to play a more active role in the political process. However, their recent experience of their first general election in 2010 has left them feeling frustrated. Indeed, our study has revealed a considerable aversion to formal, professional politics which is as deep today as it was for the predecessor 2002 youth cohort.
This article is a response to Berry's arguments on the impact of population ageing as potentially marginalising younger people in the democratic process. Berry constructs a pessimistic account where a powerful grey vote will enact an age-based 'majority rule' and posits this as a 'democratic deficit' that contravenes the 'unwritten' rules of democracy. This response argues that automatic assumptions of age-related majority rule are frequently based upon a highly flawed grey power model and the need to incorporate intergenerational and intra-family solidarity, as well as life-cycle factors into these debates. This response agrees that older voters are likely to become much more important in electoral politics, but not because they will vote as a bloc or aggressively pursue material self-interest, but because ageing policy challenges may increasingly attain the status of valence issues in future elections.
Young people and voting behaviour: alienated youth and (or) an interested and critical citizenry?
European Journal of Marketing, 2010
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trust, cynicism and efficacy on young peoples' (non)voting behaviour during the 2005 British general election.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were gathered from 1,134 interviewer‐administered questionnaires with young first‐time voters during the three‐week period following the British general election in May 2005. Validated attitudes statements were used to measure their levels of trust, cynicism and efficacy.FindingsThe research shows that young people are generally distrusting of and very cynical about politicians and the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) Thus, in part, the data support the existing evidence that cynicism contributes to feelings of political alienation. However, the paper's findings also indicate that while young people can be highly distrusting and cynical, they can also be interested in the election and vote.Research limitations/implicationsCurrent, negative evaluations of young people and el...
Politically alienated or apathetic: young people's attitudes towards party politics in Britain
2004
Following the outcome of the 2001 General Election, when the numbers of abstainers outweighed the numbers of Labour voters, much attention has been focussed upon the state of British democracy, and how to enthuse the electorate - and in particular young people, of whom 61 percent chose to stay away from the polling stations. While the government is exploring ways to make the whole process of voting easier (with ideas such as voting over the telephone and the Internet) it may be failing to tackle the real problem. The main challenge is that many young people appear to find the business of politics uninviting and irrelevant to their everyday lives. This paper examines data derived from a nationwide survey of 705 attainers – young people who are eligible to vote for the first-time and who have only limited experience of formal politics. The findings from the study reveal that these young people are not as apathetic when it comes to “Politics” as conventional wisdom would have us believ...
Mobilising the Youth Vote: The Future of British Democracy
newcastle.edu.au
Despite the slight increase recorded at the 2005 poll, turnout at British national elections continues to be low. The slight rise in turnout was driven by the increased voting participation of baby boomers whereas the youth vote dipped well below the fifty percent mark. This is worrying, not only because youth is a surrogate for other forms of social and economic exclusion, but also because it augurs ill for the future of British democracy. Although the low voting turnout of the young was once dismissed as merely a life-cycle phenomenon, this no longer appears to be true with the early low participation habits of young people apparently becoming entrenched over time. In Britain a number of reforms have been instituted to stem the tide of electoral demobilisation but none have been particularly successful. Since such piecemeal reforms seem unable to solve the problem, we recommend compulsory voting as the most reliable means of raising voting participation. And, as we show, compulsory voting has a good chance of being adopted in Britain due to its growing popularity with both policy makers and the public.
Electoral Studies, 2020
(C. Prosser). 1 For a brief overview of the election, see Prosser (2018). 2 A figure that was apparently plucked out of thin air, see Dahir (2017). 3 Neither Britton, nor Whiteley and Clarke, say whether they are measuring turnout amongst registered voters or the voting eligible, or age, population. Since they make no mention of registration, it seems reasonable to assume they are talking about either the voting eligible or voting age populations. Sloam and Ehsan's 21 point figure comes from Ipsos MORI, who report two numbers-a 16 point rise amongst all resident 18-24 year olds, and a 21 point rise amongst registered 18-24 year olds. Sloam and Ehsan do not make clear why they prefer the more dramatic number and do not report the lower number, nor do they report that it is measured as a proportion of registered voters. Ipsos MORI themselves say 'we believe the first figure [turnout amongst all resident adults] is both more reliable and more meaningful'.