Political participation in late modernity among Norwegian youth: an individual choice or a statement of social class?

2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 593-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guro Ødegård ◽  
Frode Berglund
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Late Modernity

Newspaper Readership as a Determinant of Political Knowledge and Activity

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hampden H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
National Election ◽  
Political News ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Different Levels

Using data from 1972, 1976 and 1980 national election surveys, the study supports previous research showing newspaper readership relates strongly to both political knowledge and activity. Although there is a strong relationship for newspaper readership, there is none for viewing political news on television. Finally, the strong relationship between newspaper readership and political participation remains at different levels of social class and education.

Social Class and Stratification in Late Modernity

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Scott
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Late Modernity

Black Consciousness and Political Participation: The Missing Link

1981 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Shingles
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Black Consciousness ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Politically Active

Recent research has demonstrated that black Americans are far more politically active than whites of similar socioeconomic status. The difference has been related to black consciousness. Yet the reasons for this relationship have not been adequately explained. Starting with the work of Gurin and Gamson, this article theorizes that black consciousness contributes to political mistrust and a sense of internal political efficacy which in turn encourages policy-related participation. The relationship between the two attitudes and policy-related behavior is demonstrated to be conditional. The conditions favor blacks more than whites. What I shall call the Gamson-Gurin thesis is supported by data from Verba's and Nie's 1967 survey of the American public. The thesis, and its derivations, prove useful in clarifying the scope and nature of black participation in the American political process as well as helping us to understand how individuals in general select one mode of participation over another and how the choice varies by race and social class.

scholarly journals The Expressive Turn of Citizenship in Digital Late Modernity

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Identity Management ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Cultural Consumption ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
Late Modern

The purpose of this paper is to connect the idea of expressive rationality to current debates on citizenship and political participation online. Socializing, cultural consumption/ production, identity management, information and publication strategies are both different and accentuated in digital, networked and late modern environments. In the paper I argue that the kind of network sociability that is emerging today favours an expressive form of rationality. I also claim that expressive rationality transcends the bipolar instrumental – communicative dimension that has been so important for normative theorizing in Political (and Social) Sciences and hence is a more rewarding theoretical concept for understanding political participation in digital late modernity.

scholarly journals Intra-generational inequalities in young people’s political participation in Europe: The impact of social class on youth political engagement

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110317
Author(s):  
Maria Grasso ◽  
Marco Giugni
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Class Background ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

The declining political engagement of youth is a concern in many European democracies. However, young people are also spearheading protest movements cross-nationally. While there has been research on political inequalities between generations or inter-generational differences, research looking at differences within youth itself, or inequalities between young people from different social backgrounds, particularly from a cross-national perspective, is rare. In this article, we aim to fill this gap in the literature. Using survey data from 2018 on young people aged 18–34 years, we analyse how social class background differentiates groups of young people in their political engagement and activism across nine European countries. We look at social differentiation by social class background for both political participation in a wide variety of political activities including conventional, unconventional, community and online forms of political participation, and at attitudes linked to broader political engagement, to paint a detailed picture of extant inequalities amongst young people from a cross-national perspective. The results clearly show that major class inequalities exist in political participation and broader political engagement among young people across Europe today.

scholarly journals Youth-led climate strikes: fresh opportunities and enduring challenges for youth research - commentary to Bowman

2020 ◽  
Vol 198 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 217-222
Author(s):  
Bronwyn Wood
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Public Events ◽  
Youth Research ◽  
Political Agent

In this commentary I respond to Benjamin Bowman’s Fennia paper by extending upon his central thesis that argues that the prevailing methodological tools and framings used to research youth political participation perpetuate unhelpful and inadequate dichotomies about youth. Advancing upon this, I suggest that the youth climate strikes in 2019 highlight three prevalent discourses in youth research relating to climate change: (i) the tendency to view youth as isolated individuals, neglecting the role of adults and communities; (ii) the tendency to focus on individual behavioural change rather than recognise the need for systemic and societal responses to climate change, and (iii) the tendency to overlook structural characteristics of youth such as race, gender and social class. The resulting discourses of youth autonomy, individualism and homogeneity lead to a distorted picture of young activists and perpetuate harmful narratives which lead to stigma, despair and cynicism. The paper concludes by advocating for greater care in the research methodologies and critical frameworks we use to report on youth at public events, such as climate strikes, in order to allow for the complexity of the young political agent, the ambiguity of some of their actions and for opportunities that enable young people themselves to articulate their own participation.

scholarly journals Non-conventional/illegal political participation of male and female youths

Human Affairs ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Gavray ◽  
Bernard Fournier ◽  
Michel Born
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Individual Choice ◽  
Explanatory Role ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
Political Actions

AbstractBelgian data from the PIDOP project show that boys are more involved than girls in illegal political actions, namely the production of graffiti and other acts of “incivility”. These activities must be considered in both groups as complementary to conventional political and social participation and not as their opposite. The main explanatory factor is the level of the perceived efficaciousness of such actions. The lack of trust in institutions and the level of awareness of societal discrimination play no significant explanatory role. In males, the involvement level in these activities depends on feelings of personal discrimination and on the lack of freedom concerning individual choice, confirming the theory of societal vulnerability and Honneth’s theory of recognition. This level also increases along with increasing opportunities to make acquaintances and have fun in the neighbourhood. In females, this involvement is explained by the distance with regard to pro-sociality level.

Power and Identity among Citizens in Networked Societies

2012 ◽  
pp. 109-127
Author(s):  
Jakob Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Late Modernity ◽  
Academic Discussion ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

A classic question within studies of governance concerns what appears to be a paradox of being free and governed at the same time. In this chapter, the author addresses this question departing from contemporary Western society, a society to which he attaches labels such as digital, late modern, and networked. This is a theoretical chapter addressing political participation, citizenship practices, and power. How do people enter into citizenship through political participation online, and what governs these processes? The contribution to the academic discussion is to highlight the expressive as an increasingly important rationale for political participation in networked and digital late modernity. The author arrives at this conclusion departing from the intersections between technology, society, and culture. In these intersections, expressive processes of identification are keys. Therefore citizenship practices also need to be approached from an axis of individualism, creating even more intersections when combined with technology, society, and culture.

The Context: Growing Economic Inequality and Weakening Unions

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Lehman Schlozman ◽  
Sidney Verba ◽  
Henry E. Brady
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Union Membership ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Political Voice

This chapter reviews evidence about two complex trends: the increase in economic inequality and the decrease in union membership. In two fundamental ways, class inequalities underlie this inquiry into both the roots and the consequences of inequalities of political voice. Inequalities of political participation are, first, grounded in disparities in income, occupation, and especially education. As this chapter demonstrates, social class has multiple consequences for differences in individual and collective political participation. Second, inequalities on the basis of class shape the content of political conflict. That is, class differences are an important source of political division. Although the list of contentious political issues in contemporary America is long and varied, there can be no doubt that matters associated with differences in income and material well-being are critically important in generating political conflict.

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