Uninterested Youth? Young People's Attitudes towards Party Politics in Britain

Abstract

Following the outcome of the 2001 and 2005 General Elections, when the numbers of abstainers outweighed the numbers of Labour voters on both occasions, much attention has focused upon the state of British democracy and how to enthuse the electorate, especially young people. While the government is exploring ways to make the whole process of voting easier, it may be failing to tackle the real problem-that youth appear to find the business of politics uninviting and irrelevant. This paper examines data derived from a nationwide survey of over 700 young people in order to shed light on what lies at the heart of young people's apparent disengagement from formal politics in Britain-political apathy or a sense of political alienation. The findings reveal that they support the democratic process, but are sceptical of the way the British political system is organised and led, and are turned off by politicians and the political parties. However, there is no uniform youth orientation to politics, and the data indicate that views differ according to social class, educational history, and also gender. However both ethnicity and region of the country in which young people live seem to have little influence in structuring political attitudes and behaviour.

New forms of political participation. Changing demands or changing opportunities to participate in political parties?

“…On the other hand, attitudes have changed regarding the areas where government is supposed to intervene and where citizens can make a difference (Whiteley, 2009b, p. 252). The picture that emerges is that of an evolution of the forms of engagement (Pattie et al, 2004;Henn et al, 2005), rather than a decline in interest in politics. 8 While they are shunning collective forms of participation, Britons seem to engage increasingly in individualistic political acts New forms of political participation (Pattie et al, 2004, p. 78), especially indirect (micro politics) or individualised forms of political action (Pattie et al, 2004, p. 266).…”

Young People, Political Participation and Trust in Britain

“…Moreover, young people have been differentiated from wider society in terms of their political views -they are considered to be less conservative than older contemporaries, highly disillusioned with the operation of politics, and more sceptical of politicians (Henn et al, 2005;Pattie et al, 2004). Furthermore, there is evidence that young people's disengagement from politics is more pronounced than it was for previous youth cohorts (Park, 1995;Kimberlee, 2002).…”

“…The principal theme to emerge out of the existing research into the general field of young people and politics is that this generation has been characterised as dissatisfied with, and alienated from, the political process (Henn et al, 2005;Kimberlee, 2002;Wattenburg, 2002). Furthermore, many studies conclude that young people have comparatively lower-levels of political knowledge than their older contemporaries (Pattie et al, 2004), and have a distinct lack of interest in (formal) politics (Park, 2004).…”

Young People and Political Participation: An Analysis of European Union Policies

“…To test some of these and other speculative hypotheses about the reasons for young people's apparent disengagement with formal politics, Henn et al (2005) conducted a nationwide survey of more than 700 'attainers' -young people eligible to vote in an election for the first time. Their data suggest that young people do profess an interest in formal politics, and are committed to the idea of elections and the democratic process more generally.…”