Postmaterialism and young peoples political participation in a time of austerity

Young people’s relationship with the state in many advanced democracies has recently come under considerable strain. This is not least because the responses of many governments to the unfolding global financial crisis have been to implement austerity programmes which have often had a particular and negative impact on youth. As a consequence, many young people are deeply frustrated by, and distrustful of, the political class; they are therefore refraining from engaging in the formal political process and are increasingly turning their backs on democratic institutions and mainstream political parties. In Britain, this divide is particularly visible, with a continuing abstention from electoral participation since 2001. At the same time, young people are increasingly expressing support for, and turning toward, a new and diverse range of non-institutionalised “postmaterialist” forms of political action in order to actualise their interests. These include demonstrations, political consumerism and Internet activism. Using Inglehart’s ideas on postmaterialism, we consider whether this apparent rejection of mainstream politics in favour of less conventional - and sometimes radical - forms of political action is changing over time in Britain, reflecting fluctuating economic and social conditions witnessed since the turn of the new Millennium. We do this by comparing results from two linked representative surveys focusing on the political behaviour of separate cohorts of 18 year old British youth. The first (postal) survey of 705 youth was conducted in 2002 during an era of relative global prosperity. The second (online) survey of 1,025 young people was conducted in 2011 at the height of the current global crisis.