From what I’ve noticed over the past few years, myself and my peers have become more engaged in the political system. Whether this is due to the circles that I socialise in, or broader structural issues, the change is still there to be seen. However, the youth of today are often regarded as a highly individualised demographic, focusing on issues that relate to their personal lifestyles and values, rather than considering the interests of the collective (Theocharis and Quintelier, 2014). However, in an increasingly individualised society, today’s young people, more so than any generation before them, are becoming more interconnected in a progressively globalised world. These seemingly contradictory value systems encourage forms of participation that shy away from traditional activism. Therefore, the question still stands: are young people disengaged in politics?

Green (2017) posits that this generation of young people are more disadvantaged than their parents, due to significant changes in the composition of the welfare state and a decline in employment opportunities, which may act as an indicator to the prevalence of apparent political apathy amongst the younger generation. Realistically though, is it fair to say that young people are apathetic to politics? Henn, Weinstein, and Wring (2002) suggest that it is beneficial to broaden the definition of politics in order to gauge a true understanding of young people’s interest in political issues. Traditional party politics has long been seen as pale, male and stale, so why would the most progressive generation have any real interest in it?

Recent shifts in the UK’s political landscape may have significantly contributed to the apparent increase in young people’s interest in politics. The last five years have seen two General Elections (with the second being an unexpected ‘snap’ election), and two major referendums, the Scottish Independence referendum in 2014 and the controversial EU referendum more commonly referred to as ‘Brexit’ in 2016. This climate of political uncertainty has arguably encouraged young people to become more politically aware, with the 2017 General Election’s exit pollsters coining the term ‘Youthquake’ to describe unexpectedly high levels of electoral turnout amongst 18-25 year olds (Sloam and Ehsan, 2017).

However, this initial research has subsequently been refuted, with a follow up survey conducted by the British Election Study suggesting that young people are in fact no more engaged in traditional party politics than they have been in previous years (Prosser et al, 2018). It is suggested that young adults are also more concerned with issues that they deem more immediate, for example completing their education or finding employment, that they view engagement in politics as a secondary priority (Henn, Weinstein, and Wring 2002). Despite this, the number of young people registering to vote in the lead up to the 2017 General Election was the highest of any age group (BBC News, 2017), which can suggest at the very least an increase in interest in traditional politics amongst the young electorate. Maybe the party campaigning (especially by Labour) was able to encourage youngsters to race to the polling stations.

Figure 1.0 Shows partisan alignment by age group, and highlights the stark contrast between 18-24 year olds and those 65 and over (Ipsos MORI, 2017)

Of considerable interest in regard to young people’s voting behaviour and political engagement is the tools in which they utilise to become more politically aware. The use of popular culture to mobilise 18-24 year olds has seen to be a successful tactic, with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter being regarded by some political commentators as having the power to exert influence over a wide audience in the lead up to an election. People aged 16-24 spend on average 35.2 hours per week on the Internet (Ofcom, 2017), and 99% of the same age group use social media at least once a week (Elder, 2016). Considering the proliferation of social media accounts amongst young people, it could be suggested that parties are able to use this platform to gain momentum in their election campaigns, for example the ‘Grime4Corbyn’ hashtag, as well as numerous other viral phenomena that encouraged young people to get out there and vote.

Figure 2.0 Is an example of one of Facebook’s various attempts to engage its users in the GE 2017 (Siddique et al., 2017)

It seems to be a no-brainer to use popular communication networks when considering how best to mobilise an increasingly apathetic demographic in the electorate to be engaged. Polonski (2017) aptly states that the Conservative party seriously underestimated the benefits of having a presence on social media in the last election, and suggests that “…next time, to avoid such a spectacular misjudgement, they should turn away from polls and look to social media to get a better sense of what is going on.” Political parties should aim to be less naïve in their understanding of people’s attitudes towards an election in general, or specific leadership candidate, and shouldn’t ignore the new ways in which politics is becoming more accessible to the younger generation.

Social media alone however is most likely not the sole reason for an increase in young people’s interest and participation in conventional politics, but instead acted as a major contributory factor in the substantial growth in the popularity of Jeremy Corbyn. His substantial 1.73 million Twitter followers, as opposed to Theresa May’s 474 thousand acts as an indicator to not only his popularity, but also of his influence. Labour harnessed the power of social media and was able to promote his candidacy by appealing to the values and interests of young people, with nearly two thirds of the youth vote backing Labour (Travis, 2017). Maybe then, it is time to stop underestimating the youth of Britain, and instead start learning to incite them to participate in ways that were previously impossible or unheard of.

BBC News (2017) General election 2017: Two million apply to register to vote. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/39987278 (Accessed: 12/02/17).

Elder, R. (6th August, 2016) 99% of young British people use social media every week. Business Insider. Available from: http://uk.businessinsider.com/99-of-young-british-people-use-social-media-every-week-2016-8. (Accessed: 21/02/18).

Green, A. (2017) The Crisis For Young People: Generational Inequalities in Education, Work, Housing and Welfare. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Henn, M., Weinstein, M. and Wring, D. (2002) A Generation Apart? Youth and Political Participation in Britain. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 4(2) pp.167-192.

Ipsos MORI (2017) How the Voters Voted in the 2017 Election. Available from: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/how-britain-voted-in-the-2017-election_2.pdf. (Accessed: 19/02/18).

Ofcom (2017) Adults Media Use and Attitudes. Available from: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/102755/adults-media-use-attitudes-2017.pdf. (Accessed: 21/02/18).

Polonski, V. (2017) From voices to votes: how young people used social media to influence the General Election. Election Analysis UK. 16^th June. Available from: http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2017/section-5-the-digital-campaign/from-voices-to-votes-how-young-people-used-social-media-to-influence-the-general-election/. (Accessed: 06/02/18).

Prosser, C., Fieldhouse, E., Green, J., Mellon, J., Evans, G. (2018) The Myth of the 2017 Youthquake Election. London: British Election Study. Available from: http://www.britishelectionstudy.com/bes-impact/the-myth-of-the-2017-youthquake-election/#.WoGc-qhl_IV (Accessed: 12/02/17).

Siddique, H., Weaver, M., Phipps, C. (2017) Voters go to the Polls in 2017 Westminster Election – as it happened. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2017/jun/08/general-election-2017-uk-polling-day-live?page=with:block-5939084de4b00493c827a86d. (Accessed: 19/02/18).

Sloam, J. and Ehsan, M. (2017) Youth Quake: Young People and the 2017 General Election. London: Intergenerational Foundation. Available from: https://moodle.roehampton.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/734808/mod_resource/content/1/Youth-Quake_Final.pdf. (Accessed: 12/02/17).

Theocharis, Y. and Quintelier, E. (2014) Stimulating citizenship or expanding entertainment? The effect of Facebook on adolescent participation. New Media & Society. 18(5) pp.817-836.

Travis, A. (9^th June, 2017) The Youth for Today: How the 2017 Election Changed the Political Landscape. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/09/corbyn-may-young-voters-labour-surge (Accessed: 12/02/17).