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School of Social Sciences Politics and International Relations Division School of Social Sciences Politics and International Relations Division Political Consumerism as Political Participation: A mixed-methods, paired-country comparison project with young people in the UK and in Greece. Georgios Kyroglou A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Nottingham Trent University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Director of Studies: Professor Matt Henn Co-supervisors: Dr Ben Oldfield and Dr Rose Gann September 2020 1 | P a g e 2 | P a g e “To the vegans who fly every week. To the meat eaters who only shop local. To the DIY mums who use disposable nappies. To the electric car owners who don’t compost. To the zero wasters who eat fast food. To the gardeners who buy fast fashion. And to the recyclers who have long showers. To all of those who are making a difference…” (Unknown Source) 3 | P a g e 4 | P a g e Copyright Statement This thesis is the intellectual property of the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed in the owner(s) of the Intellectual Property Rights. Statement of Originality I declare that the work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original and my own work, except as acknowledged in the text. The material (presented as my own) has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for a degree at any other institution. Statement of Contribution to Others In those cases in which the work presented in this thesis was the product of collaborative efforts, I declare that my contribution was substantial and prominent, involving the development of original ideas, as well as the definition and implementation of subsequent work. Detailed information about my contribution to collaborative work in this thesis is outlined in Appendix IV. Acknowledgements This thesis would have never been completed without the continuous help and support of my supervisory team. Especially Prof. Matt Henn, whose professionalism and kindness has taught me more than any degree could ever have. To Gerasimos and Sofia for being my anchors, and to Charlie for reminding me there is always another way. I would finally like to thank the research participants for their engagement and insights, and all of the young people we have crossed paths with, for remaining socially and politically engaged, when I found it hard to be. Funding The author received financial support from the School of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University to conduct the research. 5 | P a g e Thesis Outline Chapter 1: Introduction 15 1. Political consumerism past and present 15 2. Research Aims and Objectives 18 3. Thesis Outline 18 Chapter 2: Defining Young People, Political Participation and Political Consumerism 22 1. Introduction 22 2. Who are the ‘young people’ in contemporary political participation research? 23 a. Age brackets and thresholds 25 b. Working definition of ‘young people’ 28 3. Problems in defining political participation 29 4. The evolving and widening definitions of political participation 32 5. Subpolitics, Life politics and Lifestyle politics 37 6. Recognising political consumerism as political participation 42 7. Conclusion 46 Chapter 3: An assessment of the main theoretical frameworks of in the study of political participation 47 1. Introduction 47 2. The Socio-Economic Status Model 47 3. The Mobilisation Model 51 4. The Rational Agency Model 54 5. The Social Capital Model 56 6. Postmaterialist value orientations and the Silent Revolution thesis 59 7. Conclusion 66 Chapter 4: Sociology of Consumption and the emergence of the Citizen-Consumer 68 1. Introduction 68 2. Consumption as Responsibility and Identity 68 a. Consumption as Responsibility 70 b. Consumption as Identity: Two parallel narratives 73 3. Between the Individual and the Collective? 78 4. The emergence of the Political Consumer 81 5. Conclusion 83 Chapter 5: Neoliberalism and Political Consumerism 85 1. Introduction 85 2. Neoliberalism and youth political (dis)engagement 85 a. The neoliberal rationale 85 b. A crisis for neoliberal capitalism 88 6 | P a g e c. Neoliberalism and Political (Dis-)Engagement 90 3. Factors influencing political consumption decisions 92 a. Push Factors 92 b. Pull Factors 94 4. Conclusion 96 Chapter 6: Political consumerism at the country-level 97 1. Introduction 97 2. On the concept of the state and Varieties of Capitalism 97 3. Political Consumerism in Greece and in the UK 102 a. Political consumerism in Greece 103 b. Political consumerism in the UK 106 5. Putting the pieces together: A multi-layered approach to Political Consumerism 109 Chapter 7: On measuring Political Consumerism 115 1. Introduction 115 2. Varieties of Political Consumerism 116 3. Determinants of Political Consumerism 120 4. Constructing a Political Consumerism Index (PCI) 124 5. Conclusion 130 Chapter 8: Methodology: Overview of the study procedure 132 1. Research aim and objectives 132 2. Research questions 133 3. Philosophical assumptions 135 4. Methodological approach 136 a. Paired-country comparison 138 b. Focus groups 138 c. Survey questionnaire 142 d. Profile of the overall sample 143 5. Ethical considerations with regards to anonymity and confidentiality 148 6. Independent contribution to knowledge 149 Chapter 9: Exploratory study using focus groups: Motivations and neoliberalism 152 1. Introduction 152 2. Motivations of Political Consumerism 152 3. Neoliberal factors influencing political consumption decisions 155 a. Neoliberal ‘push’ factors 155 b. Neoliberal ‘pull’ factors 159 4. Conclusion 162 7 | P a g e Chapter 10: Push-factors: Who are the political consumers and what do they believe about politics? 163 1. Introduction 163 2. Who are the political consumers in Greece and in the UK? 166 3. Political consumerism and young people’s views about, and engagement with, politics 182 4. Which are the beliefs of young people in relation to elections, politicians and democracy? 194 5. Participation in politics and community affairs 208 6. Conclusion 222 Chapter 11: Pull-factors, motivations and personal orientation 225 1. Introduction 225 2. Consumer behaviour pull-factors 226 3. Motivations of political consumerism 240 4. Personal orientation 249 5. Postmaterialism 256 6. Conclusion 260 Chapter 12: Conclusion: Drivers of Political Consumerism in the UK as opposed to Greece? 262 1. Introduction 262 2. Drivers of political consumption in the UK and Greece 262 a. Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (PCE) Local 266 b. Intention to demonstrate 266 c. Promoting environmentally responsible lifestyles 267 d. Online: Signing a petition 267 e. Gender 268 f. Age 269 g. Local-community personality outlook 270 h. Postmaterialist values 271 i. Support national economy 275 j. Party affiliation 276 k. Support for market competition 277 3. The paradox of political consumerism and directions for future research 278 a. Reviewing downwards the cost of participation 278 b. Expanding the weight of the benefits involved in participation 279 c. Movements of affluence or movements of crisis? 280 4. Conclusion 283 a. Main findings 284 b. Directions for future research 286 c. Original contribution to knowledge and final remarks 287 8 | P a g e References: 291 Appendix I: Focus Groups 333 A. Participants’ Information Sheet 333 B. Informed Consent Form 335 C. Guide for Focus Groups: 336 Appendix II: Survey Questionnaire 339 A. Participants’ Information Sheet and Informed Consent Form 334 B. Survey questionnaire 340 Appendix III: Cumulative list of Chi-square crosstabulations in Chapters 10 and 11 355 Appendix IV: Declaration of Collaborative Work 381 9 | P a g e List of Tables Chapter 8: 1.1 By country 143 1.2 By gender 144 1.3 By age 144 1.4 Belonging into a minority 145 1.5 Living with parents 145 1.6 Primary household earner 145 1.7 Residence 146 1.8 Subjective class 146 1.9 Relative income 147 1.10 Education attainment 147 1.11 Employment status 148 Chapter 10: 2.1 Gender 167 2.2 Age 168 2.3 Belonging into a minority 170 2.4 Living with parents 171 2.5 Primary household earner 172 2.6 Residence 173 2.7 Subjective class 175 2.8 Relative income 176 2.9 Educational attainment 178 2.10 Employment status 179 3.1 Subjective definition of politics 183 3.2 Interest in politics 185 3.3 Political knowledge 187 3.4 Political orientation 188 3.5 Partisanship 190 3.6 Support for organised protests 193 4.1 External Political Efficacy 195 4.2 Trust towards politicians EPE 196 4.3 Influence on governance IPE 198 4.4 Disillusionment from elections 199 4.5 Generalised trust 200 4.6 Voting is a duty 202 4.7 Support for democracy 203 4.8 How democratic is my country? 205 4.9 Satisfaction with political information 206 5.1 Formal: Intention to vote 210 5.2 Formal: Contact a politician 211 5.3 Informal: Intention to work with others 213 10 | P a g e 5.4 Informal: Intention to volunteer 214 5.5 Informal: Intention to demonstrate 216 5.6 Online: Sign a petition 218 5.7 Online: Share a link 219 5.8 Online: Create a blog 220 Chapter 11: 6.1 Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (PCE) World 226 6.2 Perceived Consumer Effectiveness (PCE) Local 228 6.3 Satisfaction with available range of products 229 6.4 Satisfaction with range of prices 230 6.5 Satisfaction with variety of retailers 232 6.6 Satisfaction with market related information 233
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