This book will be available open access upon publication.
Capital, Privilege and Political Participation examines how privilege and peoples perceptions of it relate to their involvement in politics. It treats peoples stocks of economic, social and cultural capital as indicators of privilege as well as resources that help people engage with politics. It also argues that how they perceive privilege in society, their own lives and politics matter for their political participation. Using survey, interview and focus group evidence, the book shows that capital and perceptions of privilege relate to peoples involvement in a host of political activities. Whilst political participation is a normal if not daily feature of many peoples lives, having more economic and cultural capital is associated with being more politically active. Perceiving the role of privilege in society is also linked to higher levels of participation, whilst perceiving privilege in politics is unsurprisingly associated with being less politically active. Questions abound about how, if at all, capital and perceptions of privilege are causally related to political participation, but the book concludes that involvement in politics is a distinguished activity. Efforts to tackle these inequalities in participation should centre on outreach activities by political institutions, extensive and consistent citizenship education, and active opening up of politics.
Papildus informācija
Analyses how economic, social and cultural capital, and perceptions of privilege, relate to political participation.
List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements
Introduction Political Participation Privilege, and Capital Considering the
Context Overview of the Book
Unequal Political Participation Commonplace for Some What is Political
Participation? What Drives Participation? Unpacking Who Participates Towards
Structural and Perceived Privilege
Structural Privilege Inequality and Privilege Capital and Politics Capital,
Class and Privilege
Perceptions of Privilege The Importance of Perceptions Perceptions,
Inequality and Politics Perceptions of Groups and Status Status, Explanations
and Political Participation Accounting for Perceptions of Privilege
Political Participation and Non-Participation Diversity in participation and
Non-Participation A Note on How the Research was Conducted Supporting
Organisations Undertaking Political Acts Barriers to Participation
Economic, Social and Cultural Capital The Many forms of Capital Economic
Capital Social Capital Cultural Capital The Importance of Capital
Perceptions of Society, Self and Politics Perceiving Privilege in Different
Contexts Perceptions of Privilege in Society Perceptions of Own Privilege
Perceptions of Privilege in Politics Four Components of Perceptions of
Privilege
Politics as a Distinguished Activity The Many Factors in Political
Participation Economic Capital and Political Participation Social Capital and
Political Participation Cultural Capital and Political Participation
Perceptions and Political Participation Politics as a Distinguished Activity
Is Participation a Consequence or a Component of Privilege? A Causal
Conundrum The Mediating Role of Capital? The Mediating Role of Perceptions of
Privilege? Politically Relevant Capital A Conundrum Unanswered
Conclusion and Solutions Capital, Perceptions of Privilege and Political
Participation The Relationship between Privilege and Participation Overcoming
Barriers to Participation
Appendices A: Privilege and Participation Survey Representativeness B:
Interview and Focus Group Details C: Index Variable Distributions D:
Regression Results
Bibliography Index
Joe Greenwood-Hau is a Lecturer in Politics in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. His research sits at the intersection of political behaviour, political sociology, and political psychology, with a particular focus on how structural and perceived privilege relate to political participation and representation. He has published on pedagogy, ideology and its relationship with views of politics, influences on support for expanding the franchise, and survey research methods. He teaches on the topics of elite and mass political behaviour, and quantitative data analysis for politics and international relations.
