Very interesting article by John Harris in today's Guardian about how young people are increasingly turning to the Conservatives: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/26/generation-y-young-voters-backing-conservatives?CMP=twt_gu
This is an area I have been considering, and I think that issues of identity might be influencing political allegiance, and that this might be a cyclical phenomenon.
As part of growing up young people must create an identity separate from their parents - if they do not do this they do not grow up properly.
Historically we saw a massive surge of support by young people in the 1980s to the Conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher. As a reaction, we saw a massive surge by the next generation away from the Conservatives to New Labour. As the children who grew up under New Labour became nauseated and disgusted by "Dad's politics" they are, twenty years after the emergence of Tony Blair as Labour leader, turning to the Conservatives once again.
This is of course a simplification, and there will be many exceptions, but identity issues are playing a bigger role than many people suspect.
As an aside, John Harris mentions many "young" lefties who are not supporting the Conservatives ("the columnist and author Owen Jones, the left-feminist Laurie Penny, the people who have clustered around such brilliantly trailblazing groups as UK Feminista, People and Planet and UK Uncut"). I recall a few months ago a Twitter conversation in which many "youngish" lefties, including Owen Jones and Zoe Williams and other writers, were boasting about their socialist ancestors in what can only be described as a mild form of ancestor worship. Is it possible that these people have not succeeded in establishing an identity distinct from their parents?
As another aside, at the time of Margaret Thatcher's funeral John Harris wrote an article in the Guardian about how music and the arts led a rebellion against the Thatcherite ascendancy. However he illustrates his article with examples (the Jam, the Specials, Martin Amis) that represent 1970s culture that was still hanging around in the 1980s and beyond. Cultural figures generated within the 1980s were much less radical and more concerned with frivolous aspects of life (Club Tropicana) - and in part this was because Margaret Thatcher created an environment in which people felt secure and so able to relax and enjoy themselves (even though this security might have been more perceptual than actual). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/thatcherism-arts-britain
This is an area I have been considering, and I think that issues of identity might be influencing political allegiance, and that this might be a cyclical phenomenon.
As part of growing up young people must create an identity separate from their parents - if they do not do this they do not grow up properly.
Historically we saw a massive surge of support by young people in the 1980s to the Conservatives led by Margaret Thatcher. As a reaction, we saw a massive surge by the next generation away from the Conservatives to New Labour. As the children who grew up under New Labour became nauseated and disgusted by "Dad's politics" they are, twenty years after the emergence of Tony Blair as Labour leader, turning to the Conservatives once again.
This is of course a simplification, and there will be many exceptions, but identity issues are playing a bigger role than many people suspect.
As an aside, John Harris mentions many "young" lefties who are not supporting the Conservatives ("the columnist and author Owen Jones, the left-feminist Laurie Penny, the people who have clustered around such brilliantly trailblazing groups as UK Feminista, People and Planet and UK Uncut"). I recall a few months ago a Twitter conversation in which many "youngish" lefties, including Owen Jones and Zoe Williams and other writers, were boasting about their socialist ancestors in what can only be described as a mild form of ancestor worship. Is it possible that these people have not succeeded in establishing an identity distinct from their parents?
As another aside, at the time of Margaret Thatcher's funeral John Harris wrote an article in the Guardian about how music and the arts led a rebellion against the Thatcherite ascendancy. However he illustrates his article with examples (the Jam, the Specials, Martin Amis) that represent 1970s culture that was still hanging around in the 1980s and beyond. Cultural figures generated within the 1980s were much less radical and more concerned with frivolous aspects of life (Club Tropicana) - and in part this was because Margaret Thatcher created an environment in which people felt secure and so able to relax and enjoy themselves (even though this security might have been more perceptual than actual). http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/thatcherism-arts-britain
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