Political (Dis)Engagement

"This is a very important book which both reminds us of ways of thinking about politics that have been submerged in recent decades and urges us to think more imaginatively about new ways of being political. Anyone interested in the revitalisation of democratic politics should read this book." Stephen Coleman, Leeds University

"An excellent contribution to the growing literature on alternative forms of political participation, at a time when too many see young people especially as apathetic and uninvolved." David Marsh, University of Canberra, Australia

"In contrasting traditional with new, everyday forms of digital participation, this book engagingly raises challenging questions about whose experiences and identities are included, and also who is increasingly excluded or disengaging from both new and old politics." Ariadne Vromen, The University of Sydney

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’.

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.