Socioeconomic Inequalities and political engagement

Is the education system a factor in the amount of  political engagement or interest?

 

‘ I don’t understand politics whatsoever ‘

This video above highlights the idea that many individuals from a working class background aren’t particularly keen in engaging in the political sector of society and they also don’t have much knowledge about the way things work.  This is a huge concern due to the fact that working class members of society are those who struggle the most financially and require the most support from the government such as council housing, benefits and free school meals. So shouldn’t this mean they should have the opportunity to learn the correct understanding of politics?

The role of the education system can play a part for the contribution and engagement of working class individuals in relation to politics. Lets focus on the Marxist theory of education and how this can contribute to the argument that education impacts political engagement within different social classes. The Marxist theory on education emphasises the idea that the system prepares children for work. This idea can be supported by the concept of the ‘hidden curriculum’ which was formulated by sociologists Bowles and Gintis(1976)  who argue that there is a correspondence between pupil experiences of school and adult work(LeCompte,1978). They believe that schools are teaching children the right skills for work without them even realising such as consequences for things like being late to school, or disobeying the teacher. This on its own can lead to children being socialised in believing that their purpose is in society is to work and can also lead them to believe that their say would not matter, this is especially the case for working class individuals as they are less likely to move on to higher education which would mean they would naturally lack knowledge on the way democracy works, which can lead to a lack of interest in participating in politics.

Working class individuals are culturally and materially deprived. This means that they lack knowledge and lack materials such as access to internet which would in fact boost their knowledge. This means that they do not get the opportunity to go to private or grammar schools to receive a high level of education. Unfortunately, social class determines the quality of education you receive and those who have been born in to generations of wealth have greater opportunities to enable them to manoeuvre around issues regarding politics (Hoskins et al., 2017). The same way a person can be born into wealth, a person can be born into a working class family which mean that the mitigating effect or ‘compensatory effect’ can occur.  This based on the idea that socioeconomic inequality in political engagement is transmitted from one generation to the next through political socialisation in the home(Hoskins et al., 2017). A middle class family is much more likely to debate about politics compared to a working class one. If a parent doesn’t have the knowledge or interest in politics, why would that be something they encourage their children to learn?  This could then be passed from parent to child, generation to generation,  leading to a lack of political engagement within the working class.

How can we fix this cycle?

This video above, talks about the importance of citizenship education in schools.A few students talk about how they have picked citizenship GCSE and how it has empowered them to want to make society a better place. Activities regarding citizenship in schools include student councils and mock trials. However these are not mandatory(Hoskins et al., 2017). If GCSE citizenship was compulsory throughout the UK, I believe it would give every child a great opportunity to learn about politics and how to participate. This knowledge they learn could then be passed onto parents who lack knowledge and to their own children in the future which would increase political engagement and decrease political inequality/alienation. The feeling of political alienation excludes certain voices from decision making (Hoskins et al.,2021). Which can be prevented if everyone had equal opportunities in engaging with politics.

Data Via Ipsos MORI (2017) and (2019)

‘C2’ and ‘DE’ on the graphs above both represent voters who are  semi skilled or unskilled workers and those who are unemployed. As. you can see above, in every year of voting (2015-2019) the vote turnout within ‘C2’and ‘DE’  is substantially lower in contrast to ‘DE’ who represents individuals who are part of the middle class.  The percentage difference on some years is as high as 20%! These statistics bring to spotlight the fact that working class are less likely to participate in politics.  Personally, coming from a working class background I only began engagement with politics when the labour party talked about cutting tuition fees. Before that it was never a topic that I participated in and was never something my parents talked about at home. Maybe this would have been different if at school there was compulsory citizenship education teaching me that I can make a difference in society.

Recommendations

We need to have compulsory citizenship education in the curriculum. This would not only help working class understand democracy and increase participation, it would also increase the chances of working class wanting to work with the government, which would decrease the chances of policy reflecting the interests of just the wealthy,  leading to a chance of a ‘fair’  and ‘equal ‘society’.

 

What do you think? Share your thoughts below

References:

Channel 4 News(2017) UK election: Who will the working class vote for? (Online Video). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtRwmm8Iom4&t=368s(Date accessed: 18/03/2021)

Citizenship #OurVoiceYourChoice (2018) The Importance of Citizenship Education. [online Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59IUqc0JSSQ (08/03/21)

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 (Date accessed 16/03/21).

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 (Date accessed: 18/03/21).

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 (Date accessed: 20/03/21).

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 (Date accessed: 20/03/2021).

Margaret LeCompte(1978), Learning to work: The hidden curriculum of the classroom (Online), Vol 9, pp-22-37. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1525/aeq.1978.9.1.05x1748z
Date accessed: 22/03/21

 

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