Engaging Millennials: The strategies and experiences of Christian social action groups in the UK Emily Winter Department of Sociology Lancaster University A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... 6 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 – Introduction ............................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2 – Introducing the Millennials ...................................................................................... 19 2.1 Characteristics ................................................................................................................................. 20 2.2 Situational factors ........................................................................................................................... 21 New technologies and social media ................................................................................................. 21 Political memory and experience ..................................................................................................... 22 Emerging adulthood.......................................................................................................................... 23 Changes to Higher Education ............................................................................................................ 24 Economic insecurity .......................................................................................................................... 25 Neoliberalism .................................................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Introducing my research participants ............................................................................................. 27 Chapter 3 – Literature review ..................................................................................................... 31 3.1 Contemporary Christianity and the Millennial generation ............................................................. 36 3.2 The Millennial generation and socio-political engagement and participation ............................... 43 3.3 Millennials, Christianity and socio-political engagement ............................................................... 52 3.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Chapter 4 – Methodology .................................................................................................................... 56 4.1 Choice and account of methods ..................................................................................................... 56 Website analysis ............................................................................................................................... 56 Interviews.......................................................................................................................................... 58 Pilot interviews .............................................................................................................................. 59 Choice of semi-structured interviews ............................................................................................ 60 Sampling ....................................................................................................................................... 60 Means of interview ....................................................................................................................... 64 Ethics procedure and ethical considerations ................................................................................. 66 Gatekeepers and organisational reputation ................................................................................. 71 4.2 Strengths and limitations of these methods ................................................................................... 73 Other possible approaches ............................................................................................................... 73 4.3 Data analysis ................................................................................................................................... 74 4.4 Personal positioning- between ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ .................................................................. 75 Chapter 5 – Adult-forming: the CARE Leadership Programme and Christian Concern’s Wilberforce Academy ............................................................................................................................................... 81 5.1 Interviewees .................................................................................................................................... 83 1 5.2 Introducing the organisations ......................................................................................................... 84 History ............................................................................................................................................... 85 Issues of concern, vision and ways of operating .............................................................................. 87 Discourse, worldview and religious positioning ............................................................................... 89 Young adult programmes- the CARE Leadership Programme and Christian Concern’s Wilberforce Academy ........................................................................................................................................... 91 5.3 Conceptualising and contextualising Christian Concern and CARE ................................................ 93 5.4 Young adult engagement: the CARE Leadership Programme and Christian Concern’s Wilberforce Academy ............................................................................................................................................... 98 Forming principled leaders: the goals of the Leadership Programme and the Wilberforce Academy .......................................................................................................................................................... 98 Leadership and a focus on careers ................................................................................................ 99 Being a Christian in public life ..................................................................................................... 100 Building a network ...................................................................................................................... 101 Manifestations of these goals ......................................................................................................... 101 A narrow engagement strategy .................................................................................................. 102 Appealing to prestige and academic credentials ........................................................................ 104 Understanding these strategies ...................................................................................................... 107 5.5 Millennial responses ..................................................................................................................... 108 Assessing the goals of the programmes ......................................................................................... 109 Leadership ................................................................................................................................... 109 Being a Christian in public life ..................................................................................................... 110 Building a network ...................................................................................................................... 112 Equipping and empowering ........................................................................................................ 114 Valuing participation and discussion .............................................................................................. 115 Nuancing ......................................................................................................................................... 118 Narratives of change ....................................................................................................................... 124 Disillusionment from party politics ............................................................................................. 124 Alternative narratives of change ................................................................................................. 125 The struggling emergence of new political narratives ................................................................ 128 Correspondence with the concepts of Bang and Bennett et al. ..................................................... 129 5.6 Effectiveness ................................................................................................................................. 130 5.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 130 Chapter 6 – Youth-empowering: the Christian Aid Collective