The effects of age, generation and period on turnout in Finland 1975–2003

Wass, Hanna

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2007.06.002

Cited by 94 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The canonical view says that political participation differs by gender (Chaney 1979, Desposato andNorrander 2009), increases as individuals age (Nie et al 1974, Wass 2007, and get married (Straits 1990, Kern 2010, Stoker and Jennings 1995. My findings in this chapter confirm the wellknown results regarding voters' political participation mentioned.…”

Section: Central Findingssupporting

confidence: 80%

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Entity/Event-Level Sentiment Detection and Inference

Deng

2015

Proceedings of the 2015 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Student Rese

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Turnout has decreased in 23 out of 36 established democracies since 1945. Among all worldwide cases Costa Rica is a good laboratory for studying turnout oscillations. During three decades between 1958 and 1994, political participation average rates remained high in a comparative perspective. Following that trend, one would easily predict that individuals socialized during that period of time must replicate automatically their parents' and grandparents' levels of high political activism. However, turnout patterns in the country since 1998 do not fit very well in that story.Older voters are no longer voting at the rates they usually did and the younger are entering into politics during times of lower participation. The combination of these two factors can have big deleterious and long-lasting effects on turnout trends.Estimating the causal relationship between consecutive voting decisions has proven to be intrinsically difficult for social scientists. Drawing on an exceptionally rich and unique turnout dataset and a mixed-methods approach that includes longitudinal multivariate analysis, face-toface interviews and geospatial statistics this contribution seeks to explain why in Costa Rica, currently the oldest and most stable democracy in Latin America, turnout has declined? And more importantly: what factors drive these changes? v Individual characteristics, although still relevant in static theories regarding turnout determinants, have proved to be insufficient for understanding why individuals' turnout behavior varies over time. Instead, I theorize that the partisan (group) identity that makes people turn out because they are loyal to the party in a context of conflict produces stronger motivation but it is activated selectively, and it only works in a context of "threat" or polarized deliberation.Nevertheless, these incentives may change over time, they may increase or decrease under certain circumstances impacting turnout. Essentially, the more polarized the electoral competition, the easier it will be for citizens to cast their vote.A polarized deliberation, the key factor in my causal story, creates the conditions for the activation of strong partisan identities that stimulate voters' mobilization to the polls. Therefore, During the course of my fieldwork in Costa Rica, I accumulated many debts. I especially thank all the persons I contacted for the interviews and accepted to share their experiences with me. These interviews were crucial for my research project. Without the knowledge I compiled in these conversations I would not be able to develop the theoretical argument of chapter 6.In Pitt, I was also fortunate to share time with several great friends. (Carlin et.al. 2015).The worst case scenario would be one in which this pattern could extend individuals' apathy toward politics during lifetime, causing low turnout to freeze for decades. Therefore, if we want to understand the implications of turnout decline in established democracies, we first need to comprehend the conditions under which these chang...

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Section: Central Findingssupporting

confidence: 80%

“…A generation is formed by certain experiences that occur during its formative years (17-25 year olds) (Delli 1986). The key point is that certain experiences have a permanent impact on the given generation throughout its lifetime (Wass 2007). …”

Section: Voter Turnout Increases With Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Entity/Event-Level Sentiment Detection and Inference

Deng

2015

Proceedings of the 2015 Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Student Rese

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“…Following Blais et al (2004), Wass (2007), and Bhatti and Hansen (2012a) As expected, the older the respondent, the higher the score on the maturation index. Generational differences are largest for the youngest age group with a 20 percentage point gap between the maturation scores of 18-to 20-year-olds of the 1960s generation compared with the post-1970s generation.…”

Section: A Comparison Of the Political Life Cycle Of Different Generamentioning

confidence: 92%

Revisiting the political life-cycle model: later maturation and turnout decline among young adults

Smets

2015

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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Turnout among young adults has declined steadily in various advanced industrial democracies in recent decades. At the same time, as a consequence of delayed transitions to adulthood, many life-cycle events considered important for the development of electoral participation are experienced later in life. These combined trends call for a revaluation of the political life-cycle model and the way in which it explains voter turnout among young adults. More specifically, in this paper it is argued that variation in the timing of life events has been overlooked as an explanatory factor of generational differences in young adults' propensity to turn out to vote. With accumulating evidence that the decision to vote is to some extent habitual, a lack of life experiences may cause young adults to form the habit to abstain rather than to vote. If the mechanisms of the life-cycle model are indeed correct, later maturation should at least partially explain why young adults these days are less inclined to vote than their parents or grandparents in their younger years. Based on the British Election Studies from 1964 to 2010, the findings of this study confirm generally observed patterns of a delayed assumption of adult roles by young citizens. This trend toward later maturation negatively affects turnout levels of young citizens. If maturation levels had remained at pre-war levels, the average turnout among Britain's post-seventies generation would have been no less than 12 percentage points higher.

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“…With societies ageing, this may be a significant factor. Younger people are believed to be less interested in politics, have smaller knowledge when it comes to political issues, and be characterised by a lower sense of responsibility concerning voting (Franklin et al, 1992;Topf, 1995;Blais et al, 2004;Wass, 2007). At present, it is possible to notice and describe some changes in electoral regulations which take into consideration lowering the voting age and which aim at mobilising and politically socialising younger generations, allowing them to vote when they are 16, like in Austria (Wattenberg, 2008;Wagner, Johann, Kritzinger, 2012;Zeglovits, Aichholzer, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determiners of Citizen Participation at Local Level in Poland

Hartlińska

2021

Regional Formation and Development Studies

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ABSRTACTThe main objective of this study is to show the willingness of citizens to act through the prism of opportunities offered by participation at the local level. Citizens' activity in public life is the core of democracy. Their engagement may assume various forms, among which the most common form is participation in elections. When it comes to direct democracy, participation in referendums is most widespread. However, an element of democracy, which is cognitively equally important as the above ones, results from citizens' engagement in institutional activity through membership in political parties, trade unions, non-governmental organisations or local associations. It is also worth mentioning the participation expressed through signing of petitions, taking part in demonstrations or involvement in local initiatives. Having considered all the above data, one can state that it is clearly visible who undertakes political participation in Poland more often, and for whom this is a less frequent activity. This analysis with its conclusions seems to be a crucial suggestion for people who would like to take effective steps in order to increase citizens' engagement in politics.

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The effects of age, generation and period on turnout in Finland 1975–2003

Cited by 94 publications

References 16 publications

Entity/Event-Level Sentiment Detection and Inference

Entity/Event-Level Sentiment Detection and Inference

Revisiting the political life-cycle model: later maturation and turnout decline among young adults

Determiners of Citizen Participation at Local Level in Poland

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