In recent years, young people’s relationship with politics in Britain has been viewed as increasingly problematic. On the one hand, this generation is often characterised as apathetic or even as antipolitical (Stoker 2011), with no interest in, or support for, the democratic process. On the other hand, when young people do take part in mass social and ‘political’ actions (whether this be the sporadic episodes of civil unrest across Britain’s cities in the summer of 2011, student protests or involvement in the Occupy movement), they are often criticised for being irresponsible and antisocial.
The research described in this article takes as its starting point the widely-held view that many young people are apathetic when it comes to politics, as evidenced by the relatively low turnout by young voters in elections.
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