” The likelihood of an individual to be involved in political activity was contingent on his or her class or occupational location”
Cainzos & Voces, (2010)
Socioeconomic inequality is a term that we hear so much in today’s society, and in our second blog we will be exploring that and seeing how socioeconomic inequalities interlinks with political participation. And Looking at the quote above we are able to see the writer’s opinion on this topic and we can clearly see that they believe that political activity has something to do with class and economic status, and even where you are located which I believe is true I mean as someone who comes from a working class background I was able to grasp an understanding of politics from a young age but I would honestly say that there was still gaps in my learning an that could have something to do with the schools that I went to. And according to an Uberoi & Johnston (2021) people become politically disengaged when they don’t know, value, or participate in the democratic process. So knowing and not knowing about politics can be a reason for one’s participation in it and that leads me to then ask the question, who are those that know about politics?
As stated before I believe that there was gaps in my learning and I believe that this was due to the schools that I went to and all throughout my education I have gone to state schools, and compared to a private school I believe that most people that go to state schools are more likely never to have had been taught about politics and so according to (Schusmann and Soule 2005) have already lost their interest from politics from a young age. Citizenship education was first provided for people in the year 2002 and between the years of 2002 – 2010 with intense research backing it was said to be found that citizenship education was delivered under a “discrete timetable” and in addition to that a more higher percentage of schools instituted citizen education in school assembles or programmes like pshe (Shoutouk 2021) and as someone that knows all about assemblies and pshe if your subject was taught there it was not really a big deal so we are really able to see just how what we have learnt from young could have an impact in your political future.
Social Grading (DID SOMEBODY SAY WHAT IS THAT?)
Well this is a system of demographic classification used in the UK and something we need for this blog, and in this there are 6 categories that range from A TO E they use this to categorise households and finally it also looks at the particular occupation of the chief earner in a household. We can see in the graph below (IPSOS MORI 2009) just what social grades mean so we can see that from A are the people that have very good jobs in
society and have a high income and as we go down all the way to E we are able to see that we have people
who are unskilled, even unemployed. Now that we know what social grading is we will now use this information to see how this all links to political participation.
(From Hansard Society 2018)
With much research I have seen that this graph is one of the best and relevant examples I could find, so what this graph is showing is #1 Social grades and #2. Political attitudes by social grades. So we are able to see through this graph that those with a higher social grade (AB) are those with the highest knowledge of politics and these are people that probably went to private school and had the opportunity study about politics from young which has given them an advantage compared to those with the lowest social grade (DE) shows that there knowledge of politics is small. I also believe that knowledge is power and that knowledge is everything because once you know about something you can make decisions about it and decide if you would want ENGAGE in it, and as we can see from above those with the most knowledge of politics ENGAGE MORE in politics therefore their attitudes towards will be more positive whereas those in the lower groups can have a more negative attitude towards simply because they lack knowledge of it which is not their fault. In addition to this, this has a lot to do with what we spoke about above about the types of schools we went to and that links with the income of our families.
(IPSOS 2015 & 2017)
This graph is showing the voter turnout by social grading in 2017 through this we are able see that there is a clear distinction from grades AB and and DE, AB which is those with the higher social gardes are the ones who have the higher voter turnout and I believe this makes more sense as they are the group that go out and vote the most. This is a very interesting finding as it shows us that the individuals who are in lower social groups do not politically ENGAGE in politics compared to those who are in higher classes. I personally believe that there could be many reasons for this such as those of lower classes have other things that they are looking to spend their time on. They are not as interested in politics therefore are not as engaged.
CONCLUSION TIME!!!!!!!
In conclusion I believe that education has a massive part to play in political engagement it’s very important what have you have learnt from a young age where you have learnt it from, we were able to see through our research that some people have not learnt about politics which causes them from young to be disengaged, whereas those that attended private schools have had those experiences of learning about politics. Finally that knowledge is everything and that the knowledge you have acquired is what can make you engage in politics more because you know why and what its about and this is what we saw within those who had a higher social grading they had more KNOWLEDGE about politics which is why they were more ENGAGED.
References
- Shoutoutuk.org. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://www.shoutoutuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/REPORT_souk2021_view_v8-1.pdf> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
- cainzos, M. and voces, C., 2010. Class Inequalities in Political Participation and the ‘Death of Class’ Debate – Miguel Caínzos, Carmen Voces, 2010. [online] SAGE Journals. Available at: <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0268580909360298?journalCode=issa> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
- Hansardsociety.org.uk. 2018. Hansard Society. [online] Available at: <https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
- Ipsos. 2015. How Britain voted in 2015. [online] Available at: <https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/how-britain-voted-2015> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
- Ipsos.com. 2009. Ipsos | Global Market Research and Public Opinion Specialist. [online] Available at: <https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/search?search=social%20grading> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
schussman, A. and soule, S., 2005. Process and Protest: Accounting for Individual Protest Participation. [online] Watermark.silverchair.com. Available at: <https://watermark.silverchair.com> [Accessed 24 March 2022].
Hi Paula, your blog was very interesting. It was thought-provoking to read about how socioeconomic inequalities play a huge part in the participations of individuals in politics. I agree with you that education plays a massive role in ones desire to vote, when people lack knowledge they do tend to be disengaged. As you also mentioned about schools teaching about politics throughout citizenship classes, I do recall myself in public not being taught well. I only recall learning about career options and working on personal statements and CV. I myself did not learn anything through school, but rather through social media as well as discussions in class when the general elections were being held.
I wonder if you have looked into finding out; with the level and form of education given to individuals if that plays a part in who they vote for? in private schools which political party are individuals most likely to vote for? Also as you mentioned the social grading system would you suggest other ways that could support the individuals knowledge and engagement politically? Do you think the government is doing enough to support political education?
Thanks,
Arifa
Yes this research was definitely interesting, the more I was researching the more I was finding out. Especially about the socio economic playing a massive part in whether someone engages in politics or not, one thing I realised is that a lot of the times it depends on maybe the type of school that you went to that will determine what you learn. I know that there are many private schools that teach about politics so that’s why people of higher socio-economic have more knowledge in the subject and also have more of an advance to it. In regards to your question I believe yes the level of education can definitely plays a part like I mentioned before about private schools they have a totally different way of learning and the levels of learning is probably more advance, and though form of education plays a part sometimes its not an excuse, because sometimes us as individuals have the decision take make whether we ourselves want to further our knowledge on something. And I believe that in private schools they mostly vote for conservatives. I think that the government can do a better job in supporting political education because its definitely something important and useful for all young people because the future is in the hands of young people so the sooner the youth know about politics the more beneficial it is for everyone.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts once again!