What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, Britain’s young people have been disproportionately affected by policies of welfare retrenchment. Youth disillusionment with austerity has been cited as a reason for the youthquake witnessed in the 2017 General Election, where the Labour Party&rs...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Societies |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/4/101 |
| _version_ | 1818317595229552640 |
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| author | Muhammad Rakib Ehsan |
| author_facet | Muhammad Rakib Ehsan |
| author_sort | Muhammad Rakib Ehsan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Since the 2008 global financial crisis, Britain’s young people have been disproportionately affected by policies of welfare retrenchment. Youth disillusionment with austerity has been cited as a reason for the youthquake witnessed in the 2017 General Election, where the Labour Party’s better-than-expected performance resulted in the loss of the ruling Conservative Party government’s parliamentary majority. The degree of one-party dominance among younger voters was unprecedented, with Labour’s aggressively pro-youth agenda paying dividends. However, this paper takes the attention away from voting behaviour and towards non-electoral forms of youth political participation in the UK. What are the strongest predictors of non-electoral political participation among young British people? Three possible predictors are explored: educational attainment, level of trust in politicians, and party identification. Three forms of non-electoral participation are considered: signing a petition, taking part in a boycott and sharing political messages on social media. Using a bespoke representative survey commissioned by Hope Not Hate, this paper finds that educational attainment does not have a particularly strong effect on non-electoral participation, with Labour Party identification being significantly associated with all three forms. A strong relationship is also discovered between identifying with a ‘minor party’ and non-electoral political participation among Britain’s young people. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:39:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d671cc14bcf947e8857650fb36795357 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4698 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:39:49Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Societies |
| spelling | doaj.art-d671cc14bcf947e8857650fb367953572022-12-21T23:52:14ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982018-10-018410110.3390/soc8040101soc8040101What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity BritainMuhammad Rakib Ehsan0Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, Surrey, UKSince the 2008 global financial crisis, Britain’s young people have been disproportionately affected by policies of welfare retrenchment. Youth disillusionment with austerity has been cited as a reason for the youthquake witnessed in the 2017 General Election, where the Labour Party’s better-than-expected performance resulted in the loss of the ruling Conservative Party government’s parliamentary majority. The degree of one-party dominance among younger voters was unprecedented, with Labour’s aggressively pro-youth agenda paying dividends. However, this paper takes the attention away from voting behaviour and towards non-electoral forms of youth political participation in the UK. What are the strongest predictors of non-electoral political participation among young British people? Three possible predictors are explored: educational attainment, level of trust in politicians, and party identification. Three forms of non-electoral participation are considered: signing a petition, taking part in a boycott and sharing political messages on social media. Using a bespoke representative survey commissioned by Hope Not Hate, this paper finds that educational attainment does not have a particularly strong effect on non-electoral participation, with Labour Party identification being significantly associated with all three forms. A strong relationship is also discovered between identifying with a ‘minor party’ and non-electoral political participation among Britain’s young people.http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/4/101young people’s politicsausteritypetitionboycottsocial media |
| spellingShingle | Muhammad Rakib Ehsan What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain Societies young people’s politics austerity petition boycott social media |
| title | What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain |
| title_full | What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain |
| title_fullStr | What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain |
| title_full_unstemmed | What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain |
| title_short | What Matters? Non-Electoral Youth Political Participation in Austerity Britain |
| title_sort | what matters non electoral youth political participation in austerity britain |
| topic | young people’s politics austerity petition boycott social media |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/4/101 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT muhammadrakibehsan whatmattersnonelectoralyouthpoliticalparticipationinausteritybritain |