Pulled in and pushed out of politics: the impact of neoliberalism on young people’s differing political consumerist motivations in the UK and Greece

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Kyroglou, G. ORCID: 0000-0003-4111-5544 and Henn, M. ORCID: 0000-0002-1063-3544, 2020. Pulled in and pushed out of politics: the impact of neoliberalism on young people’s differing political consumerist motivations in the UK and Greece. International Political Science Review. ISSN 0192-5121

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512120935521

Abstract

Political consumerism refers to citizens’ use of boycotting and buycotting as they seek to influence political outcomes within the marketplace rather than through more traditional routes such as voting. However, given the pressure that neoliberalist forces exert on the marketplace, the lack of literature problematising the relationship between political consumerism and neoliberalism is somewhat surprising. Addressing this gap, we examine how neoliberalism impacts youth political consumerism in the UK and Greece. Focus group findings suggest the existence of two inter-connected effects. Firstly, we detect a neoliberal ‘push-effect’ away from electoral politics. Secondly, we discern a parallel ‘pull-effect’ as young people seek the ‘political’ within the marketplace. In Greece, youth political consumerism seems to result primarily from their distrust of institutional political actors. In contrast, young political consumers in the UK appear to be principally driven by their confidence in the capacity of the market to respond to their pressing needs.

Item Type:

Journal article

Publication Title:

International Political Science Review

Creators:

Kyroglou, G. and Henn, M.

Publisher:

SAGE Publications on behalf of the International Political Science Association

Date:

6 August 2020

ISSN:

0192-5121