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University of Southampton Research Repository Eprints Soton University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON Faculty of Social and Human Sciences Social Statistics Exploring Political Non-Participation; Conceptualising, Distinguishing and Explaining Political Apathy by Emma Thompson Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2014 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN SCIENCE Social Statistics Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy EXPLORING POLITICAL NON-PARTICIPATION; CONCEPTUALISING, DISTINGUISING AND EXPLAINING POLITICAL APATHY Emma Louise Thompson Political Apathy is customary in the language of the political scientist, though the use of the term has too often wrongly been conflated with issues relating more broadly to disengagement. This study aims to establish the significance of disentangling apathy from alternative terms by providing a thorough reconceptualisation of the notion and subsequently demonstrates sound empirical evidence of it as a distinct form of political non-behaviour. It begins by problematising non-participation with a defence of politics and civic engagement, which is reinforced through the review of existing literature showing the health of UK democracy to be far from the optimum described by key thinkers. The central purpose of the piece sees the multilevel formation of the concept of engagement, of which apathy is an important component. Quite what apathy indeed constitutes forms not only a crucial part of the conceptualisation, but also of its application to data. This study uses the entire Hansard Society’s Audit of Political Engagement from 2003-2012 to test the validity of the concept, using Latent Class Analysis, amongst others, as its primary method of assessment. It finds, in line with the conceptualisation, that there are four types of citizen; apathetic, latent, critical and engaged. The apathetic individuals, of central focus, are characterised by a lack of confidence and indifference which distinguishes them from their interested, yet disappointed, disengaged counterparts. Table of Contents ABSTRACT Table of Contents List of tables List of figures DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP Acknowledgements Definitions and Abbreviations Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: The Importance of Politics and the Issue of Non-Participation 2.1 A Failed Civic Culture? 2.2 In Defence of Politics 2.3 Defence Against the Market 2.4 Political Equality Chapter 3: Exploring the Explanations of Participation and Non- Participation 3.1 The State of Political Non-participation 3.2 Explanations of Political Non-participation 3.2.1 The Interaction of Supply and Demand 3.2.2 The Politics of “Demand” 3.2.3 The Politics of “Supply” 3.3 What do Demand and Supply Say about Apathy? Chapter 4: Conceptualising Political Apathy 4.1 The problems and principles of Concept formation 4.1.1 Sartori’s Ladder of Abstraction 4.1.2 Goertz’s Three-level Multidimensional Method 4.2 Conceptualising Political Activity; Conceptualising Political Apathy 4.2.1 Literature Review 4.2.2 Framework Chapter 5: Data and Methods 5.1 Data Source 5.1.1 Hansard Society’s Audit of Political Engagement 5.1.2 Fieldwork Procedures and Data Collection 5.1.3 Sampling and Weighting 5.1.4 Suitability 5.2 Variables 5.2.1 Response Variables 5.2.2 Explanatory Variables 5.3 Methods for Analysis 5.3.1 Latent Class Analysis (LCA) 5.3.2 Other Methods of Analysis Chapter 6: Distinguishing Political Apathy 6.1 Results 6.1.1 Models including indicators (APE1-9) for reported undertaken activity 6.1.2 Models including indicators and covariates (APE1-9) for reported undertaken activity 6.1.3 Model including indicators and covariates (APE 1-9 merged) for reported undertaken activity 6.1.4 Model including indicators and covariates (APE 10) for reported undertaken activity 6.1.5 Model including indicators and covariates (APE 10) for reported prospective activity Chapter 7: Explaining Political Apathy 7.1 Analysis for APE 1-9 Latent Class Model relating to undertaken political activity 7.1.1 Attitudinal Variables 7.1.2 Attribute Variables 7.2 Analysis for APE 10 Latent Class Model relating to undertaken political activity 7.2.1 Attitudinal Variables 7.2.2 Attribute Variables 7.3 Analysis for APE 10 Latent Class Model relating to prospective political activity 7.3.1 Attitudinal Variables 7.3.2 Attribute Variables Chapter 8: Discussions and Conclusions 8.1 Reflections 8.1.1 Chapter 2: The importance of Politics and the Issue of Non- Participation 8.1.2 Chapter 3: Exploring the Explanations of Participation and Non- Participation 8.1.3 Chapter 4: Conceptualising Political Apathy 8.1.4 Chapter 5: Data and Methods 8.2 Implications 8.2.1 Beyond the United Kingdom 8.2.2 Debates in Political Science and Contemporary Politics 8.2.3 Future research 8.3 Final Thoughts List of References List of tables Table 3-1 Political Participation in Europe 2008 (Source European Social Survey 2008) Table 5-1 Hansard Society Research Notes Table 5-2 Sex APE1-9 Table 5-3 Social Class APE1-9 Table 5-4 Region APE1-9 Table 5-5 Age APE1-9 Table 5-6 Educational Qualification APE1-9 Table 5-7 Sex APE 10 Table 5-8 Age APE 10 Table 5-9 Social Class APE 10 Table 5-10 Region APE 10 Table 5-11 Ethnicity APE 10 Table 5-12 Annual Household Income APE 10 Table 6-1 LCA model for APE 1 Table 6-2 LCA Model for APE 2 Table 6-3 LCA Model for APE 3 Table 6-4 LCA Model for APE 4 Table 6-5 LCA Model for APE 5 Table 6-6 LCA Model for APE 6 Table 6-7 LCA Model for APE 7 Table 6-8 LCA Model for APE 8 Table 6-9 LCA Model for APE 9 Table 6-10 LCA Model for APE 1 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-11 LCA Model for APE 2 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-12 LCA Model for APE 3 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-13 LCA Model for APE 4 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-14 LCA Model for APE 5 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-15 LCA Model for APE 6 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-16 LCA Model for APE 7 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-17 LCA Model for APE 8 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-18 LCA Model for APE 9 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-19 LCA Model for APE 1-9 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-20 LCA Model for APE 10 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 6-21 LCA Model for APE 1 Including Interest as a Covariate (Prospective Activity) Table 7-1 LCA Model for APE 1-0 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 7-2 People Like Me Can Really Make a Difference (APE 1-9) Table 7-3 Views on the Current System of Governing (APE 1-9) Table 7-4 The Role of Sex (APE 1-9) Table 7-5 The Role of Social Class (APE 1-9) Table 7-6 The Role of Region (APE 1-9) Table 7-7 The Role of Age (APE 1-9) Table 7-8 The Role of Education (APE 1-9) Table 7-9 The Role of Knowledge (APE 1-9) Table 7-10 LCA Model for APE 10 Including Interest as a Covariate Table 7-11 Views on the Current System of Governing (APE 10a) Table 7-12 Satisfaction with the Working of Parliament (APE 10a) Table 7-13 Satisfaction with the way MPs in general are doing their job (APE 10 a) Table 7-14 Satisfaction with the way your MP is doing his/her job (APE 10 a) Table 7-15 When people like me get involved in politics they really can change the way that the UK is run (APE 10 a) Table 7-16 Politics is a Waste of Time (APE 10 a) Table 7-17 The only way to be really informed about politics is to get involved (APE 10 a) Table 7-18 Participating in politics is not much fun (APE 10 a) Table 7-19 I enjoy working with other people on common problems in our community (APE 10 a) Table 7-20 A person like me could do a good job as a local councillor (APE 10 a) Table 7-21 A person like me could do a good job as a local MP (APE 10 a) Table 7-22 Every citizen should get involved in politics if democracy is to work properly (APE 10 a) Table 7-23 If a person is dissatisfied with political decisions he/she has a duty to do something about it (APE 10 a) Table 7-24 I don’t have enough time to get involved in politics (APE 10 a) Table 7-25 The UK Parliament holds government to account (APE 10 a) Table 7-26 The UK Parliament encourages public involvement in politics (APE 10 a) Table 7-27 The UK Parliament is essential to our democracy (APE 10 a) Table 7-28 The UK Parliament debates and makes decisions about issues that matter to me (APE 10 a) Table 7-29 How much influence, if any, do you feel you have over decision making in your local area? (APE 10 a) Table 7-30 How much influence, if any, do you feel you have over decision making in the country as a whole? (APE 10 a) Table 7-31 When people argue about politics I feel uncomfortable (APE 10 a) Table 7-32 Sometimes politics and government seem so complicated that a person like me cannot really understand what is going on (APE 10 a) Table 7-33 I usually find it
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