Politically (In)different? Political Engagement amongst Ethnic Minority Young People

Abstract

When the political engagement of ethnic minority young people has featured in public debates in the UK, it has typically been connected with concerns about disengagement, disaffection or extremism. For instance, in the anxious debates about youth political apathy in the UK in recent years (Hay 2007), connected to the low levels of electoral participation among 18–24 year olds in elections since 2001 (Marsh et al. 2007), it is suggested that ethnic minority young people are even less likely to turn out to vote compared to young people in general or older ethnic minority groups (Purdam et al. 2002; Electoral Commission 2005), and that ethnic minority young people are less civically engaged (Janmaat 2008).KeywordsYoung PeopleEthnic MinorityPolitical ParticipationCivic EngagementEthnic Minority GroupThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.