On Measuring Political Consumerism: An Exploratory Study Among Young People in the UK and in Greece

Abstract

Political consumerism consists of buycotting and boycotting and refers to the conscious and consistent use of the market for ethical, environmental and eventually political considerations. Nevertheless, at present there is no academic consensus about how best to conceptualise and empirically measure this form of political participation. The aim of this article is to address this gap by constructing a comprehensive survey instrument to measure political consumerism, in the form of the ‘Political Consumerism Index’ (PCI). This PCI is tested for validity and reliability and applied to a primary sample of young people in the UK and Greece, to shed light on the differing underlying motivations of young political consumers in the two countries. A combination of linear regression analysis and a series of non-parametric tests reveal the distinct advantages of this PCI over the commonly-used dichotomous behavioural measures of political consumerism. Our analysis reveals that political consumerism in both the UK and Greece is driven by young people’s conviction about the effectiveness of their consumer behaviour, their environmental motivations and their willingness to sign online petitions or join protests. There are also important differences across the two groups. Young UK political consumers are more likely to be female, relatively older, with a stronger local community outlook and postmaterialist sensitivities. Instead, young political consumers in Greece demonstrate both a generalised rejection of partisan politics and believe that market competition brings out the worst in people, while they perceive political consumerism as a means to support their national economy.

Exploring young voter engagement and journey mapping across political events

“…For example, young voters continue to call for persuasive campaigns tailored to their wants and needs, political issues made relevant (Johnson & Marshall, 2004; Sloam & Henn, 2017) and for political actors to develop genuine long-term relational connections with them (Islam et al, 2019; Lees-Marshment, 2019; Simons, 2016). Furthermore, we found that young voters are less apathetic of politics and the political process as previous research suggests (Barrett & Brunton-Smith, 2014; Dermody & Hanmer-Lloyd, 2004; Dermody et al, 2010; Górecki, 2013) and political participation continues to increase and diversify (Kyroglou, 2020; Pickard, 2019). Young people continue to call for clearer, detailed and engaging information prior elections and political events (Harrison, 2020; Johnson & Marshall, 2004; Russell et al, 2002), which in turn would support strengthening the long-term voter journey.…”

“…Nevertheless, research suggests that young people continue to call for clearer and detailed information prior elections and political events (Harrison, 2020; Johnson & Marshall, 2004; Russell et al, 2002), which in turn could strengthen engagement and improve the voter experience. Therefore, young people appear to be interested in political issues (Kyroglou, 2020), however feel ignored and perceive that politicians and establishment have little interest and regard in the wants and needs of young people.…”

“…Indeed, studies carried out over the last 20 years continue to argue that to strengthen engagement, researchers need to investigate the experiences and behaviours of young people in more detail and ensure young people understand the relevance and impact of politics (Johnson & Marshall, 2004; Sloam & Henn, 2017). However, despite that young people are often portrayed as apathetic with politics, young people are becoming increasingly ‘active’ in elections and political events (Kyroglou, 2020). Further, “ young people’s political participation is increasing and diversifying ” (Pickard, 2019, p. 50).…”

“…However, the term young people is often contested and interchangeably conceptualized. According to Pickard (2019, p. 27), there is “ no clear-cut definition of young people…defining young people is varied ” across different academic fields and practitioner research (Kyroglou, 2020; Pickard, 2019). For example, disciplines such as Youth Studies, Education Studies, Sociology, Biology, Psychology and Health Studies and Political Science young people are often categorized as 18–24 years (Pickard, 2019).…”

“…Finally, the term young people will vary across settings and contexts under study (Pickard, 2019). For example, studies contextualized in jurisdictions where the voting age starts at the age of 16, young people are categorized as individuals 16–24 years (Kyroglou, 2020; Pickard, 2019). For clarity and consistency, in this study we defined young people as British citizens aged 18–24 years.…”