Are young people not politically engaged?
Young people are the future so why are they not actively involved in shaping it.
Research has shown that when it comes to young peoples participation in politics they frequently vote in small quantities, and they are even more likely to not even be registered to vote at all. This may be caused by young people’s general disinterest in politics (Henn, Weinstein and Forrest, 2005)
So are young people not interested in politics or is there more to it?
Data collected suggests that the younger generations often feel alienated and apathetic (Norris, 2002). This means that Young people feel cut off and unseen by the government and this in turn, makes these individuals less interested in supporting political parties, who young people view as not caring about them.
The lack of young people’s engagement means less of their issues being addressed. This will affect the younger generations everyday life’s like mine or yours, as issues that we are passionate about such as education or the environment will not be addressed.
To further reinforce the fact that young people feel alienated and apathetic, a focus group was held with many people in the UK who were 18 years old. When they were asked what they thought about politics in general, they instantly said that it was ‘corrupt’, ‘full of lies’, and ‘manipulative’ (Henn and Foard, 2013). Knowing this it’s not surprising to see that young people do not want to vote for people they do not trust.
Let’s look at some figures
Voter turnout (The British Election Study, 2019)
This graph shows how young people make up the a small amount in voter turn out compared to the older generation who continue to vote the most. Such as in 2017 were we see the the two oldest age groups with the highest votes. (British election study, 2019)
The graph shows that the older generation is more likely to vote this could be for a number of factors such as their ideals being reflected by the political parties or because the older generation was encouraged to vote more than the current generation is.
In my experience at school being politically engaged and the importance of voting was not spoken about often. Its importance was never emphasised in lessons which has meant that I myself have not viewed voting as something vital.
Votes for the Labour Party (The British Election Study, 2019)
This graph shows how labour is very popular with younger people especially between 2015 to 2017, but the support started to decline again in 2019.
This graph really shows how the younger generation are more likely to politically engage with the Labour Party as they have often aligned their support with young peoples beliefs. In my personal experience I have seen the labour party stand with and voice their support for the younger generation of workers and the workers unions.
As previously mentioned it is important for political parties to take into account the current issues that people are facing. Parties such as the Liberal Democrat’s in 2017, often campaigned for things such reversing housing benefit cuts for young people aged 18-21 year olds, as well as increasing budgets for mental health and environmental protection (Sloam and Henn, 2019). As I am twenty I can see that these political parties are trying to engage with young people by offering us help in order to tackle very real issue we might face, this would defiantly help to increase young peoples political engagement.
On the other hand alienation can further be felt with the younger generation as many politicians cannot or are unable to address the diverse issues of the younger generation. Young people are willing to vote if politicians can show they are aware and taking their experiences into considerations (Sloam, 2014) I have noticed that while parties do try and address issues they tend to ignore other issue such as climate activism. As someone who participated in the climate strike in 2019, it felt as though we were not taken seriously and the fact that people are still protesting to this day, continues to show that young peoples issues are not being addressed by those in power which is having a negative effect on the younger generations’ want to be politically active, if they are constantly being ignored.
Let’s see how involved young people are
This link will take you to a video showing many young a level and university students protesting climate change. This shows that the younger generation is not apathetic and is in fact wanting to get politically engaged and bring attention to the issues they feel are important.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-47590261
(BBC, 2019)
Watching this video really shows how passionate young people are about current issues, specifically climate change. It shows that young people are willing to protest for what they believe is right and that they are trying to bring as much awareness as they can to the ongoing situation. It really shows how passionate the younger generation is about this and how they want to have a a say in what happens to the their future. They also talking time out of their education to form these protests which continues to show how driven the younger generation is.
So what can we do to improve?
From what we have read it seems that young people are politically engaged they just need an extra push into understanding how important voting is.
One way to do this is by implementing more politics in their everyday school experience, such as having lessons where students can express and debate their political views with one another. By providing a safe place for young people to learn students can gain knowledge and confidence in their political awareness (Boulianne and Theocharis, 2020)
Another way is through social media almost everyone has access to it and it is the quickest way to reach young people. By spreading news online young people can engage in political conversation and campaigns . This means that the younger generation will be able to access political information i a format that they understand.
I hope that this was informative and that you now know how important it is for us to use our vote so that we can shape our futures.
Bibliography
BBC (2019) Climate change: Young people protest in Birmingham. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-47590261 (Accessed: March 5, 2023).
Boulianne, S. and Theocharis, Y. (2020) ‘Young people, digital media, and engagement: A meta-analysis of research’ , Social Science Computer Review, 38(2), pp. 111-127. B
Henn, M. and Foard, N. (2013) ‘Social differentiation in young people’s political participation: The impact of social and educational factors on youth political engagement in Britain’ , Journal of Youth Studies, 17(3), pp. 360–380. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2013.830704.
Henn, M., Weinstein, M. and Forrest, S. (2005) ‘Uninterested youth? young people’s attitudes towards party politics in Britain’ , Political Studies, 53(3), pp. 556–578. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2005.00544.x.
Norris, P. (2002) Democratic phoenix: Reinventing political activism. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Sloam, J. (2014) ‘New voice, less equal: The civic and political engagement of young people in the United States and Europe’ , Comparative Political Studies, 47(5), pp. 663-688.
Sloam, J. and Henn, M. (2019) Youthquake 2017: The rise of young cosmopolitans in Britain. Switzerland: Springer Nature.
The British Election Study (2019) Age and voting behaviour at the 2019 general election, Age and voting behaviour at the 2019 General Election. Available at: https://www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-findings/age-and-voting-behaviour-at-the-2019-general-election/ (Accessed: March 4, 2023).