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THE INFLUENCE OF POSTMATERIALIST ORIENTATIONS ON YOUNG BRITISH PEOPLE'S OFFLINE AND ONLINE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 47; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00344893.2011.611160

1749-4001

Yannis Theocharis,

Gender, Feminism, and Media

Abstract According to Inglehart's postmaterialist theory, a process of value change is taking place in Western societies, where people place increasingly more emphasis on self-expression and postmaterialist values rather than economic and physical security. Evidence shows that postmaterialists are young, affluent, well educated and strongly inclined to carry out extra-institutional political participation. Internet researchers have reported that internet users are mainly young, well educated and affluent, thus denoting a similarity to the demographic characteristics of postmaterialists. The profile of the average British internet user is strikingly similar to those of extra-institutional activists and postmaterialists. Using a non-random sample (N = 500) of young people, this article tests the existence of postmaterialist values in the online realm of Britain and examines if postmaterialism influences online and offline political activity. The findings indicate that extra-institutional is a more popular type of participation among the British youths of this sample, in both offline and online realms. However, postmaterialism is not associated with internet use and is not a statistically significant predictor for offline or online extra-institutional participation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to Jennifer Hudson and Jan W. van Deth for reading and commenting on an earlier version of this article, and to the journal's referees for their valuable suggestions. Notes The online aspect of political consumerism has often been associated with what is referred to as 'slacktivism', an ironic term denoting the feelings of political effectiveness resulting from carrying out extremely low-cost acts which are self-perceived as political (such as forwarding emails calling for humanitarian support, or signing one-click online petitions). It is also worth noting that Stolle and others (2005) are unsure whether political consumerism can be seen as a phenomenon reflecting postmaterialist orientations. Questionnaires in Sheffield were disseminated directly in the commercial centre of the city, while the selection of London boroughs was based on the financial and educational achievement of the residents; this data was acquired from the Office for National Statistics (2009 OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS. 2009. Focus on London. Available at www.statistics.gov.uk/focuson/london. [Google Scholar]). According to evidence derived from in-person surveys carried out for the British Electoral Study (Whiteley et al. 2010), less than 30% of young people belonging to the 18–29 age group had acquired or were studying for a university or postgraduate diploma. Demographic data of the study population can be found in Appendix I.