In what ways is the meaning and practice of politics changing? Why might so many people feel dissatisfied and disaffected with electoral politics? What approaches do political activists use to raise issues and mobilise people for action? What role does the internet and social media play in contemporary citizenship and activism? This book brings together academics from a range of disciplines with political activists and campaigners to explore the meaning of politics and citizenship in contemporary society and the current forms of political (dis)engagement. It provides a rare dialogue between analysts and activists which will be especially valuable to academics and students across the social sciences, in particular sociology and political science.
Innehållsförteckning
Introduction ~ Nathan Manning;
PART ONE The changing landscape of politics;
Does participation always have a democratic spirit? ~ Michele Micheletti;
Love always wins: All Out’s campaign for equality everywhere ~ Andre Banks;
Social media and political participation: BBC World Service and the Arabic Spring ~ Marie Gillespie, Nesrine Abdel Sattar and Mina Lami;
PART TWO Contemporary political (dis)engagements;
Feeling politics: the importance of emotions for understanding electoral (dis)engagement ~ Nathan Manning;
UK Uncut: direct action against austerity ~ Tim Street;
Doubly Disillusioned? Young Muslims and mainstream British politics ~ Parveen Akhtar;
PART THREE The politics of identity and marginalisation;
Political engagement among ethnic minority young people: exploring new grammars of action ~ Therese O’Toole;
’Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’ ~ Francine Fernandes;
Political participation is self-interest… but not in the way you might think ~ Stephen Reicher, Yashpal Jogdand and Caoimhe Ryan;
Conclusion: politics as an open-ended process ~ Nathan Manning.
Om författaren
Nathan Manning is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of York, UK. He is particularly interested in examining how citizens understand their relationship to politics and the role that emotions and feelings may play in people’s experience of ‘the political’.