Causes of Political Disaffection and Disengagement

Causes of Political Disaffection and Disengagement Is the British political class to blame for political disaffection and disengagement? The Founding Fathers suggested that a democracy can only come to impartial decisions if both high levels of representation and deliberation take place (Gargarella, 1998). As a result of growing political disengagement and disaffection within contemporary British politics, there is a growing, â€Å"focus on the quality of representative democracy in Britain and on the quality of participatory democracy† (Kelso, 2007, p365) – the relationship that has been recognised is that political disaffection and disengagement are not conducive with an impartial democracy. Worryingly, both the Hansard Society’s annual, ‘Audit of Political Engagement’ (2017), and a recent House of Commons briefing paper, ‘Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?† (2017), suggest that political disaffection and disengagement are growing issues; knowledge of politics is down six percent from the previous year (49%), the level of trust in Government ‘to put the needs of the nation first’ has dropped to 17% (2013) and trust in the credibility of MPs stands at a measly 9%. These figures indicate that there is indeed an issue of disaffection and disengagement within the UK, thus, to determine if the political class or instead, something else is responsible, it becomes necessary to investigate what the cause of disengagement and disaffection is within specific subsections of the population; especially those who are more likely to become disengaged from politics – the ‘disaffected democrats’ (Flinders, 2015). These factions include demographics such as the ‘working class’ and ‘18-24 year olds’, both of which account for low levels of knowledge in politics compared to the average mentioned above; 29% and 33% respectively (Hansard Society 2017). The term ‘political class’ is contentious and, ‘is still not thoroughly developed in literature’ (Manolov 2013). Allen & Cairney’s, ‘What do we mean when we talk about the â€Å"Political Class†?’ (2015), offers the best practical definition; that the term political class is used to identify certain, ‘flawed characteristics’, that elected politicians tend to hold, those being: Limited roots in local constituencies, inexperience of the real world, inability to reï ¬â€šect the social background of the voting population, inability to represent devolved and English regions, and their tendency to engage in a style of politics that is off-putting to the general public.(Allen & Cairney, 2015, p18  ) The general view that the working class currently have of politicians is one of ‘cynicism’ (Manning & Homes 2012). Within a study conducted by Manning & Holmes (2012), members of the working class gave opinions on how the political class cannot represent them – one member of the survey describing David Cameron, the then PM as followed: â€Å"he’s snooty†¦ [h]e’ll not really be interested in ordinary, what I class ordinary people† (Manning & Holmes, 2012, p.483). This line of narrative makes total sense as there is no sense of ‘descriptive representation’ (Pitkin, 1967) for most elected MPs. For example, just 3% of MPs elected in 2015 came from an occupational background described as ‘manual work’ (House of Commons Library 2016), whilst the proportion of the population that lies within the social class of manual workers (DE) stands at 25% (NRS, 2016). Moreover, the annual wage for the working class sits below  £20,000 (Manning & Holmes, 2012) whilst the base annual salary of an MP starts at  £76,011 (Parliament.uk, 2017). It would be fair to say that there is a huge socio-economic disparity between the two classes which makes it hard for the working class to believe that they are truly represented within Parliament. This idea has been explored thoroughly in regard to the descriptive representation of women; Phillips (1995), most notably suggested that the electorate tends to favour those that are, â€Å"best equipped to represent† (Wà ¤ngerud, 2009, p.52), their views – those that can empathise directly with their electorate. Underrepresentation is an issue for a much wider demographic than just the working class. Just 8% of MPs identify as BME (British Future, 2017) whilst the population of BME citizens in the UK stands at 13% (Census, 2011). Furthermore, just 2% of MPs are under the age of 30 (Total Politics, 2016) whereas those who are of voting age under 30 make up 8.4% (Census, 2011). As the political class is not representative of the working class, or if it fails to represent minorities proportionally, there is no sense of, ‘impartiality’, within the representative process (Gargarella, 1998), resulting in political disaffection and potentially even disengagement. Whilst Pinkleton & Austin (2004) suggest that political disaffection leads to political disengagement, in evaluation, there is evidence to suggest that although disaffection is significant within the UK, the same cannot be said for political disengagement. Flinders (2015) argues that the current political climate is not, ‘anti-political’ –   that is it is not in favour of disengaging from politics – but that it is, ‘anti-establishment’ – disaffected from contemporary politics and the nature of the institution of the political class. Whilst statistics previously mentioned indicate that the levels of political knowledge within the working class are relatively low (29% vs. social class AB returning 71%), voter turnout in the 2017 General Election is only slightly lower than the highest ranking social class; DE’s 61% in comparison to AB’s 73% (IPSOS Mori, 2017). This would then indicate that even though the working class feel s disaffection towards politics, they remain involved in the political process. This seems to be the case more generally; more and more people are involving themselves in politics. Party membership numbers are ever increasing with the Labour party holding a 38 year high of 552,000 members (June 2017) and the Liberal Democrats a 24 year high of 102,000 (June 2017) (House of Commons Library, 2018). The logical question therefore; why is this the case amongst the working class and society in general? Birch (2016) reiterates the assumption that the [re]mobilisation of certain cleavages within politics indicates that a, â€Å"new issue has galvanised a previously political quiescent sector of the population† (p.107). This is reflected in the 2015 YouGov analysis of the General Election in which, the data within the social class ‘DE’ shows a shift away from the Conservatives (a vote share of 29%, their lowest amongst any social class) and one towards the alternatives of Labour and UKIP (37% and 18% respectively). A vote for Labour, whilst not as obviously as a vote for UKIP, could still very well be a vote against the political class. Mills (1958) specification of the political class as the, ‘political directorate’, places greater influence on the role of Cabinet above both Government and naturally Parliament. Following Mills’ terminology, a vote against the, ‘political directorate’, would be any party that would topple the current Cabinet. Thus, as Labour offer the most immediate alternative to the, ‘political directorate’, in a UK that is converging upon a two-party system (Prosser, 2018), a vote for them could also be interpreted as a rejection of the current political class; proof of political disaffection but not of disengagement. A stronger argument for disaffection being the fault of the political class would be the rise in support for UKIP. Nigel Farage, former leader and ardent supporter of UKIP, ran on a campaign revolving around the political class, ‘selling us out’, due to them being, ‘career politicians’ (GE 2015 & Brexit referendum 2017), drawing a clear line between the electorate and, ‘them’, (the political class). As well as furthering the argument of a lack of descriptive representation causing political disaffection, Farage’s campaign platform highlights an issue Crouch outlined in Post-Democracy (2004); career politicians are, â€Å"more concerned with meeting the needs of big business rather than ordinary citizens† (Jennings et al., 2016, p.880). This concept is reinforced by a survey carried out by Jennings et al, which reports that 78% of social classes C2DE believe politicians to be ‘self-serving’. This in tandem with the rise in votes for other parties, gives evidence of a growing cleavage against the political class, which although has prevented political disengagement from becoming a widespread issue amongst the working class, has cemented political disaffection within society. However, in evaluation, whilst political disaffection is self-evident, there is a systemic issue which enables the political class to unjustly receive much of the criticism. Flinders (2014, p.3) draws attention to the 1975 report, The Crisis of Democracy, which suggests that, â€Å"the demands on democratic government grow, while the capacity of democratic government stagnates†. The concept Flinders then explores in the same article is one of an, ‘expectation gap’, and, in another article, joined by Kelso, he goes on to assert that the contemporary system of Government, ‘encourages politicians to promise standards of behaviour †¦ that are unrealistic and unattainable’ (2011). Thus, when these, ‘unattainable’, promises are not kept, the result is one of disaffection as the electorate feels let down. Looking through the lens of game theory, it becomes clear as to why this is a systemic issue within contemporary UK politics. Whilst competing politicians both offer the most out of reach promises, any attempt to reduce the expectation gap by lowering the quality of promises will yield less votes, as to the electorate, the other candidates yields them a better payoff. Thus, the current scenario remains in a Nash equilibrium in which both candidates will offer a high level of promises in detriment to the expectation gap. Whilst it could be argued that the political class is at fault for offering unreasonable promises in the first places, it is to an extent only as a result of the nature of the contemporary electoral system. It can also be argued that political disaffection and disengagement are both contributed to by external factors, as opposed to just the political class. One of those external factors would be the influence of social media. Whilst this applies more to the younger generations within the electorate, the effects of social media in creating political disaffection are considerate. Yanamoto et al. (2017) report of ever increasing, ‘attack advertising’, and, ‘negative media coverage’, which perhaps foreshadowed the investigation into the activities of Cambridge Analytica (Channel 4 News, 2018). CA was more notoriously active in the Trump presidential election yet played a part in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Although there has been no leak of the explicit role CA played in the Brexit campaign, going off track record of its campaign defining ‘crooked Hilary’ slogan it developed from US Facebook data, it would be fair to suggest that the firm played a part in inflating political disaffection felt by the UK electorate. Even if CA was not directly involved, it cannot be denied that websites such as twitter, facebook and YouTube give individuals and entities a platform to spread cynicism and a rhetoric in favour of political disaffection. As suggested in Flinders (2015) individuals such as Owen Jones and Russel Brand played, ‘major roles’, in promoting a, ‘different form of politics’, engaging their audience, primarily the youth, in a narrative which revolved around the idea that, ‘the nature of British democracy’ was one of failure. Yanamoto et al (2017) found that cynicism like this, did not yield in disengagement from politics but rather, it, ‘foster[ed]’, a sense of desire to create change. In evaluation, social media is only a means of venting and publicising the original disaffection held by the electorate – disaffection which has been created by the political class. Bibliography Allen, P. & Cairney, P., 2015. ‘What do we mean when we talk about the â€Å"political class†?’. Political Studies Review, 2017, Vol.15(1), pp.18-27. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1478-9302.12092 Birch, S., (2016). ‘Our new voters: Brexit, political mobilisation and the emerging electoral cleavage’. Juncture, 2016, Vol.23 (2), p.107-111. Available from: http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=1b6a5f7d-88e1-4a87-93c5-b91d1acc55b3%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=118114895&db=bth British Future. ‘52 minority MPs to sit in ‘most diverse UK parliament ever’’. London: British Future. Available from: http://www.britishfuture.org/articles/52-minority-mps-to-sit-in-most-diverse-uk-parliament-ever/ Channel 4 News., 2018. ‘Exposed: undercover secrets of Trump’s data firm’. London: Channel 4. Available from: https://www.channel4.com/news/exposed-undercover-secrets-of-donald-trump-data-firm-cambridge-analytica Crouch, C., 2004. Post-Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Crozier, M., Huntington, S. P., Watanuki, J., Trilateral Commission., 1975. The crisis of democracy: Report on the governability of democracies to the trilateral commission. New York : New York University Press Farage, N., (2017). I got into politics because I could see our political class in Westminster would sell us out to Europe. Available from: https://www.facebook.com/nigelfarageofficial/videos/1542379039143027/ Flinders, M., 2014. ‘Explaining Democratic Disaffection: Closing the Expectations Gap’. Governance, Vol.27(1), pp.1-8. Available from: https://bath.userservices.exlibrisgroup.com/view/action/uresolver.do?operation=resolveService&package_service_id=2335930000002761&institutionId=2761&customerId=2760 Flinders, M., 2015. ‘The General Rejection? Political Disengagement, Disaffected Democrats and â€Å"Doing Politics† Differently’. Parliamentary Affairs, 2015, Vol. 68(suppl1), pp.241-254. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/pa/article/68/suppl_1/241/1403570 Flinders, M. and Kelso, A., 2011. ‘Mind the Gap: Political Analysis, Public Expectations and the Parliamentary Decline Thesis’. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol.13(2), pp.249-268. Available from: http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-856X.2010.00434.x Gargarella, R. (1998). ‘Full Representation, Deliberation and Impartiality’, in J. Elster (ed.), Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 110–37 Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 2016. Social background of MPs 1979-2017. London: House of Commons Library. Available from: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7483/CBP-7483.pdf Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 2017. Political disengagement in the UK: who is disengaged?. London: House of Commons Library. Available from: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7501/CBP-7501.pdf Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, 2018. Membership of UK political parties. London: House of Commons Library. Available from: http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05125/SN05125.pdf The Hansard Society, 2017. Audit of Political Engagement 14. London: The Hansard Society. (The 2017 Report). Available from: https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/research/audit-of-political-engagement IPSOS Mori, 2017. How Britain voted in the 2017 elections. London: IPSOS Mori. Available from: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-06/how-britain-voted-in-the-2017-election_2.pdf Jennings, W., Stoker, G., and Twyman, J., 2016. ‘The Dimensions and Impact of Political Discontent in Britain.’ Parliamentary Affairs. Vol. 69(4), pp. 876-900. Available from: https://academic-oup-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/pa/article/69/4/876/2468902 Kelso, A., 2007. ‘Parliament and Political Disengagement: Neither waving nor Drowning.’ The Political Quarterly. Vol 78(3), p. 364-373. Available from: https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2007.00865.x Manolov, G. L., 2013. ‘The Political Class – Defintion and Characteristics’. Slavak Journal of Political Sciences, Vol. 13(No. 1), pp.5-23. Available from: https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/sjps.2013.13.issue-1/issue-files/sjps.2013.13.issue-1.xml Mills, C. W., (1958). The Power Elite. London: Oxford University Press, pp. 225-42. National Readership Survey, 2017. Social Grade. London:   Publishers Audience Measurement Company Ltd. Available from: www.nrs.co.uk/nrs-print/lifestyle-and-classification-data/social-grade/ Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 2011. ‘Census aggregate data’. UK Data Service. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.5257/census/aggregate-2011-1 Pinkleton, B. E. & Austin, E. W., 2004. ‘Media perceptions and public affairs apathy in the politically inexperienced’. Mass Communication & Society, Vol.7(3), 319–337. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15327825mcs0703_4?needAccess=true Pitkin, H., 1967. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley, CA.: University of California Press Phillips, A., 1995. The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press Prosser, C., 2018. ‘The strange death of multi-party Britain: the UK General Election of 2017.’ West European Politics. 26 January 2018, p.1-11. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/01402382.2018.1424838?needAccess=true Wà ¤ngerud, L., 2009. ‘Women in Parliaments: Descriptive and Substantive Representation.’ The Annual Review of Political Science. Vol.12(1), pp.51-69. Available from: https://www-annualreviews-org.ezproxy1.bath.ac.uk/doi/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053106.123839 Whale, S., 2016. ‘The under-30 club: Life in the Commons for Britains youngest MPs’. Total Politics. London: Total Politics. Available from: https://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/features/under-30-club-life-commons-britains-youngest-mps

Future Goals Essay

Everyone should hold ends when they are seeking to accomplish a specific undertaking. A good illustration of when ends are of import to hold is when you’re planning to go to college. Therefore. I have developed three personal ends that I consider of import in accomplishing during my clip here at WEHS. First is the end of run intoing other people that have the same calling field that I do. Second. I would wish to better myself utilizing instruction. doing me a better good known single. Third. and eventually. I would wish to graduate from WEHS and attend Texas A & A ; M University in Corpus Christi. With the ends that I have listed. I feel that it will profit my hereafter and educate me further in the condemnable justness field. First. my end of run intoing other people that have the same calling involvements as I do or hold already been in the condemnable justness field. In order to accomplish this mark. I am traveling to speak to other persons that have already worked as Attor neys. Besides. if they are willing to speak to me about past experiences they can give me tips and other information that they have learned and are willing to assist other people learn from their errors. Furthermore they will be able to give me ideas sing what it will take for me to acquire my pes in the door in the Criminal Justice field. I feel that I will non hold a job speaking to people that already work in the field because I have learned that people experienced in this type of thing are friendly and are willing to assist others because helping others is what this calling entails. For that ground. meeting others that have the same calling aspirations as I do makes this end an highly of import 1. My 2nd end of bettering myself and going a well known single will do me a better individual. Education is what runs the universe and moves our economic system. In today’s society. instruction is improbably of import and if you are educated. you will be given more respect than those who are less educated. Without it. we would non be able to carry through the many undertakings society demands completed in order to last. Furthermore. I would non be where I am or who I am today without the instruction I am having here in WEHS. Due to my old ends. I believe that I have achieved a great trade in life and wish to foster my schooling. and be able to accomplish higher purposes in my hereafter. Besides. some of the personal ends that I have set for myself will necessitate a higher degree of instruction and the cognition that the University Of Texas A & A ; M will give me will assist me to accomplish my achievements. My 3rd and concluding end is to graduate WESH and go to the University Of Texas A & A ; M and have a grade in Criminal Justice. I will be able to accomplish this grade by go toing the categories that the University will be able to supply for me and my ain committedness to finishing them. By making these things. I will have the grade that will non merely set me on the right path to my hereafter. but besides lead me beyond the calling ends that I have set for myself. It will give me the option of traveling up in ranks in condemnable justness field that would non be possible if I wouldn’t have the ends I have set for myself as of now. Therefore. I will accomplish the ends that I have set Forth for the growing of my hereafter. Goals are vastly of import to hold and everyone should hold them written down if they want to be successful. Without composing them down. they would merely be impressions and most probably would merely accomplish thoughts. non ends. As a consequence. I have written down the ends I spoke of above and will seek my best in making them. Meeting other people in my calling field. going a well known single. and having my Condemnable Justice grade are of import to my hereafter. With these ends. I will carry through my educational ends at the University Of Texas A & A ; M and it will put me up to carry through my personal calling aims that I have set for my hereafter. Besides. if I keep on path. my hereafter will look bright and I will hold an exciting life in the old ages to come.

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The Effects of Technological Advancements on the Brain...

Book Review #1: The Shallows The advancement of technology has constantly shaped the way society operates as a whole, but not too often do people take a further look in to realize if technology is affecting our individual brains. Those points of analysis get addressed in the book The Shallows (2010) as the author Nicholas Carr scientifically examines how technology may or may not be subconsciously altering our brains. Technology is constantly evolving, such the same as humans, but does the advancement in technology directly affect the development of our brains? And if so, is this occurrence something that individuals should begin to worry about? Although these are arguable questions, Carr does an excellent job of analyzing evidence and facts to better understand how technology might be affecting the human brain. Carr begins with personal analysis by addressing the fact that he has been experiencing trouble focusing, he begins to realize that the possible reason as to why he is unable to properly sit down and read a paperback book from cover to cover is due to the technology which is available to his person at every moment of everyday. During his analysis of such possible causes of his lack of focus, he finds that as a writer, he uses the Internet for the majority of his research, which then led to many distractions and alterations of the way he worked. â€Å"My mind isn’t going-so far I can tell-but it’s changing†(page 5). Carr suggests that our brains aren’t thinking less,Show MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 Pageshave always been among the goals of human beings, and the same principles that brought about those outcomes in the eleventh century still bring them about in the twenty-first century. Despite our circumstances, in other words, and despite the technological resources we have available to us, the same basic human skills still lie at the heart of effective human interaction. In fact, human rel ationships are becoming more important, not less, as the information age unfolds and technologies encroach evenRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 PagesChapter 9 The evolution of management as reflected through the lens of modernist organization theory Introduction Conceptualizing management The historical origins and development of management 382 382 384 385 . xii Contents Technological change and the factory system The impact of scientific management The managerial revolution and the origins of managerialism Redefining managerialism Leadership and managerialism Diffusion between institutions: the case of the UK public sectorRead MoreManaging Information Technology (7th Edition)239873 Words   |  960 Pagesalso collaborated with us on case study research or coauthored the case studies that appear in this book: Ron Anderson-Lehman, S. Balaji, Greg Clancy, Tony Easterlin, Jane Fedorowicz, Janis L. Gogan, Dale Goodhue, Vijay Khatri, Scott A. Kincaid, Nicholas Lockwood, Stephen R. Nelson, Kevin Ryan, John Sacco, Rebecca Scholer, Mohan Tatikonda, Iris Vessey, Hugh Watson, Taylor Wells, Bradley Wheeler, Michael Williams, and Barbara Wixom. We have also benefited from several sources of support for our