Social differentiation in young people's political participation: the impact of social and educational factors on youth political engagement in Britain

Abstract

Over the course of the last decade, policy makers in Britain have become increasingly concerned about the apparent and persisting withdrawal by young people from the formal political process. In this article, the authors consider the results from a representative online national survey of 1025 British 18-year-olds conducted in 2011, including both those who voted at the 2010 General Election and those who did not. The findings reveal that young people do profess a commitment to the political process, although they consider that there are relatively few opportunities available for them to intervene effectively in formal political life. Our study also indicates that there is no uniform youth orientation to politics, and the data reveal that this generation's engagement with formal politics is complex and nuanced. Social class and educational history both appear to have a crucial bearing on political engagement, while views also differ according to ethnicity and – to a lesser extent – gender. The authors also consider the findings from 14 online focus groups with 86 young people who opted not to vote at the 2010 General Election. These findings enable us to consider what influenced these young people's patterns of (dis)engagement with politics.