We all need to be heard!

 

 You may be wondering what does socio-economic inequalities mean? How exactly does this connect with political engagement?

Socio-economic inequalities effect a larger group of individuals in society. This group can sometimes be denied access to participate in change, such as voting. Wealth, occupation, and social class can determine ones socio-economic position. Lower voter turnouts have been a result of social exclusion within the working-class (Persson, 2010). The underprivileged are unable to have the same accessibility to education, justice and as a result feel alienated within society. A huge proportion of disadvantaged individuals are not voting, and this is becoming socially acceptable for them in the political realm (Persson, 2010).  Government organisations fail to acknowledge that they are not accommodating to the needs of the lower class, or even attempting to question why there is a disproportion of the lower class not voting as well as how it can be improved.

The amount of education on politics an individual receives can dictate whether they participate and how their actions will influence the next generation (Hoskins, Huang and Arensmeier, 2021). Social class dictates the quality of education you receive. Usually, individuals who have been raised on generational wealth have better opportunities that enable them to best manoeuvre around political issues (Hoskins et al., 2017). With generational wealth comes a pattern to maintaining that wealth; by exploiting politics. Privileged households are more likely to feel comfortable in engaging in political matters because they are more equipped with the knowledge. Middle-class homes tend to give room for debates and value individuals opinions which gives more opportunities to have a better understanding.

 

 

 

 

Data Via Ipsos MORI (2017) and (2019)

 

 

‘C2’ and ‘DE’ classifications refers to voters that have semi-skilled, unskilled manual jobs and also those who are unemployed. In every year of voting the turnout within these categories are considerably lower in comparison to individuals who have managerial jobs ‘AD’. These figures emphasises that the lower classes are less likely to participate in political events. Coming from experience, political issues was never a discussion around my household. My parents were not raised in this country, so they felt no need to participate in political issues. This had passed down to me for a short period. Social backgrounds affect political involvement. However, we cannot allow this to continue. We need to find ways to tackle this issue so that individuals can be equally educated to improve levels of political engagement.

 

As I had briefly mentioned in my first blog, the education system needs to be pressured into including active citizenship into the curriculum…

 

The chances of individuals from higher social classes attending private education are higher in comparison to working-class households. Working-class households are less likely to be able to afford private education which leaves states schools. State schools offer the basic educational needs a child is entitled to, but the issue here is that they do not offer compulsory political classes within the curriculum and as a result the individual will not feel the need to have an interest in the subject. There’s also a larger volume of students which means there are less one-to-ones with teachers. This can dilute the students understanding on the subject as there’s not as much support in comparison to a private school. Introducing compulsory citizenship classes within both private and state schools improve the level of political engagement among the lower classes as well as giving them the confidence to have these debates within their social bubbles. For example, in 2002 the government introduced that citizenship must be a compulsory subject for secondary education. This is from the ages of 11-16 (ACT,2018). This was an attempt to get students to learn the skills of being an active citizen. Yes, it can be said to help improve political engagement and allow all children of society to gain the same skills that puts them on an even playing field, but the reality is, are we able to see lower class state schools really offering citizenship education (UK Parliament,2007). – because I certainly know I did not get it.

Though there are flaws in the education, when taken seriously, I still believe citizenship education can be the gatekeeper to reducing socio-economic inequalities and increase political participation. Research has suggested making citizenship education compulsory in 2002 is a positive step in increasing political participation (UK Parliament,2018). But we should not stop here…

Students from Leicester explain the importance of citizenship education (Citizenship #OurVoiceYourChoice, 2018).

As shown in the video, citizenship education is influential! It enables everyone to feel comfortable to be heard and get involved.  Though these contributions are said to not benefit middle-class pupils, it is important to understand that they are already at an advantage. These suggestions can help disadvantaged pupils gain skills in order to have equal opportunities (Hoskins et al., 2017). For example, embedding targeted activities such as debates, school councils and parliaments. This can be aimed at helping disadvantaged students feel comfortable within an open environment to speak on their own political views. It is also important that students have teachers that are trained to push underprivileged students to get more involved in politics and find an interest in it. The bridge between the higher class and lower class needs to be built.

 

Equality needs to be achieved. We all need to be heard !

 

 

Bibliography

Association for Citizenship-ACT (2018) Secondary Citizenship. [online]. Available at: https://www.teachingcitizenship.org.uk/about-citizenship/citizenship-curriculum/secondary-curriculum (Accessed 7th March 2021).

Citizenship #OurVoiceYourChoice (2018) The Importance of Citizenship Education. [online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59IUqc0JSSQ (Accessed 8th March 2021).

Hoskins, B., Janmaat, J. and Melis, G. (2017). Tackling inequalities in political socialisation: A systematic analysis of access to and mitigation effects of learning citizenship at school. Social Science Research. [online]. Vol 68, pp.88-101. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.09.001 (Accessed 8th March. 2021).

Hoskins B., Huang L., Arensmeier C. (2021) Socioeconomic Inequalities in Civic Learning in Nordic Schools: Identifying the Potential of In-School Civic Participation for Disadvantaged Students.  Northern Lights on Civic and Citizenship Education. [online]. Vol 11. pp.93-122. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66788-7_5 (Accessed 8th March. 2021).

Ipsos MORI (2017) How Britain voted in the 2017 election. [online]. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2017-election (Accessed: 8th March 2021).

Ipsos Mori (2019) How the voters voted in the 2019 election. Available at: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-12/general-election-2019-poll-aggregate-v8.pdf (Accessed at: 8th March 2021).

Persson, M. (2010). The Effects of Economic and Educational Inequality on Political Participation. [online]. Available at: https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/a47c0359-276e-4a48-9c16-c46bd345968d.pdf (Accessed 7th March 2021).

UK Parliament (2007) Education and Skills – Second Report. [online]. Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmeduski/147/14706.htm (Accessed 7th March 2021).

UK Parliament (2018) The Ties that Bind: Citizenship and Civic Engagement in the 21st Century. [Online]. Available at : https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldcitizen/118/11806.htm (Accessed 9th March 2021).

V-Dem Institute(2019) Socio-Economic Inequality in the World Today. [online] Available at: https://www.v-dem.net/en/news/socio-economic-inequality-world-today/ (Accessed 7th March 2021).