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This essay be explaining why so many electorates are losing interest in supporting traditional political parties using evidence from different sources. It will first be talking briefly about the origins and developments of political parties and their position on the political spectrum. Than go on to explain why political parties are so important within society, to understand why electorates are losing interest in political parties we need to understand what other strategies are being used to influence politics and society and what role one of these strategies play in challenging the government. All of these different points will be linked to why there is a decline in support for traditional political parties.
There are many different political ideologies that help make up political parties, the ‘classical’ ideologies are liberalism, conservatism, socialism, nationalism, anarchism and fascism. The ‘new’ political ideologies are feminism, ecologism, religious fundamentalism and multiculturalism, even though these ideologies are defined as new they still were present in the past, they tend to draw ideas from existing ideologies to create a mixed ideology.
The main point at the heart of liberalism is the individual, they aim to create a society that is able to satisfy everyone. The progress of industrialization led liberals to question and revise the ideas of early liberalism. It used to represent the belief in a minimal state with personal security, modern liberalism now accepts that the government should help people to an extent. Liberalism ideology was a result of the breakdown of the feudalism in Europe. Conservatism was used to describe a political position or ideology in the early 19th century, in the UK it replaced the term ‘tory’. Conservatisms main beliefs are human imperfection and the attempt to hold onto the organic structures in society. As a result of conservatism ideology being based around traditional thought it has had to adapt itself to existing traditions and national cultures. Conservatism has been able to continue as an ideology due to its fluidity. These political ideologies one example of the different views these ideologies have is their belief on equality liberals believe that every individual within society is born equal they are born of the same worth. Conservatives believe that society is naturally hierarchal. British politics has mainly been dominated by these two big political parties, other small parties did exist, but they did not have as many supporters.
In the past political parties were used to represent different social classes, people who came from a working-class background tended to vote labor and people whose families owned, or they owned businesses tended to vote for conservative parties. This divide helped form the term ‘left’ and the ‘right’. The ‘left’ side represent ideas about sharing, equality and making sure the less fortunate also get a fair share, it is mainly made up of the different labor parties, social democrats, socialists and communists. The ‘right’ side represent more competition and individual movement, it is mainly made up of conservative parties and liberal parties. These terms dated back to the French Revolution 1889-1796 because aristocracy sat on the right and the commoners sat on the left of the speakers. Since the 1970s the left side is mainly occupied by the green parties, they refer to the political spectrum. According to the British social attitudes survey the number of people willing to acknowledge their class identity is the same, however they are less willing to identify with a certain political party associated with the different classes. In 1987 46% of the people who did this survey said that they identified with a certain political party this percentage went down to around 31%. social class has had an impact on electorates political choices, the different political parties are no longer divided so heavily by social class.
Political parties are very important they bring together groups of individuals who have the same political ideas, they use elections to try and get as many individuals as possible into a representative body. The main function of a political party is to aggregate the diverse interests in society into a political program, simplify electoral choices for individuals, provide coherence to parties by facilitating government, enable individuals to participate in the different policy making processes. Political parties encourage political engagement, they create a balance with the other parties due to negotiations, they have many different functions and have a large importance within society. Individuals within a party are also very important.
“Contemporary societies are characterized by low and declining levels of formal political participation” (Hay, 2007, p. 11). In contemporary society there is less formal political participation however there Is a very clear increase in un-formal political participation. Social media covers a lot of things that happen within society now. The Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action in London lasted for around 137 days in 2019, this protest was to raise awareness and demand action against the institutional racism in a university, students occupied a key building that was a part of the university of London. It was a successful action and won a range of commitments to tackle the problem. The Black Lives Matter movements have also been exceptionally popular. So, while younger people may not be taking part in formal political activities, they are not being silent they are getting their voice herd in different ways. Which is why Rick Edwards statement claiming, “Your vote is your voice, don’t stay silent” (Edwards, 2015), is not accurate, you do not always have to vote to be heard there are other ways which the younger generation are more active with. The unconventional political participations are very important for a number of reasons: firstly, they make people realize they are not alone, protest movements create a unity secondly by protesting it starts a debate if there is a large number of people pretesting for the same cause the people in power will respond to it, thirdly in electoral democracy it provide an essential voice for the underrepresented groups, they usually end with some form of results, the result may not be the one the group wanted but it will be a result.
Rick Edwards (2005) claims that for years now there has been a steady and worrying decline in the number of young people voting this information is proven with the data provided by the British social attitudes. Their evidence explains why Edwards’s statement is true, according to their information only 45% of the younger population feel it is their civic duty to vote this percentage is the lowest amongst all of the age groups, the age group with the highest percentage is 65 .A reason there could be a decline in the number of young people voting can link to the increase of more unconventional political participation which bypasses the government, political parties and other channels of political expression and protest. “Non-electoral participation has increased over the past 30 years” (Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J. and Phillips, M, 2013, p. 68). A reason for this happening could be the decrease in political trust, 32% of the public never trust the government this percentage has gone up 11% since 1986, the decrease in political trust has been going on a gradual decline for a while and is still declining. Social movements and protest movements have become more aware of the impact and the influence they have within political parties so people may choose to take this route instead of political voting. The most common types of resistance and protests are demonstrations and strikes however lately many people have been using humor to highlight the issues in a non-confrontational way.
Social cleavages also impact the support political parties receive. Social cleavages are historically or socially determined divides within society, these divides often result in political conflicts amongst the different groups. Religion is one example; this type of cleavage is not extremely obvious in the UK because the majority of the public do not associate with any religion in 2017 the independent released a publication on the religion in the UK. They found that 53% of the population in England said they are not religious, this increased 5% since 2015. In the past a person’s social cleavage largely impacted the political party they associated themselves with. Especially class cleavages which links back to my previous point about how certain parties used to represent different social classes. Many people who are religious vote for parties that represent their religion more, as this in turn usually represents the electorates beliefs more. The rise in unconventional political participation has impacted social cleavages, by placing an importance on people’s opinions it reduces the social cleavages that appear within society. There have been many changes to cleavage voting over time, one change was caused by the theory of cognitive mobilization. Social cleavages can also be linked to multiple party systems. This system is when multiple political parties are able to operate in a country, in certain European parliament’s you find coalitions of up to 5 parties. Social cleavages continue to exist within society however some of them are fading due to the decreasing gap between inequalities, with social cleavages declining electorates are taking more individualist approached which can be linked back to reduced participation.
There are many different elements that affect the interest electorates have in traditional political parties, most of the elements that have an impact are to do with society. As society develops and alters the political parties will need to as well so they can maintain high levels of interest.
Bibliography
- Bulman, M., 2017. Independent. [Online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/newsukhome-newsbritish-people-atheist-no-religion-uk-christianity-islam-sikism-judaism-jewish-muslims-a7928896.html
- Edwards, R., 2015. Your Vote Is Your Voice, Don’t Stay Silent. First ed. London: Simin and Shuster.
- Hay, C., 2007. Why We Hate Politics. 1st ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Heywood, A., 2007. Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Fourth ed. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mair, P., 2013. Ruling the Void; the Hollowing of Western Democracy. First ed. London: Verso.
- Park, A., Bryson, C., Clery, E., Curtice, J. and Phillips, M, 2013. British Social Attitudes: The 30th Report, London: NatCen social research.
- Weale, S., 2019. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education2019mar20students-occupy-goldsmiths-in-protest-at-institutional-racism
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