Sociology and Politics
Politicians are often disliked and mistrusted. While millions of people happily take part in telephone votes on programmes like Big Brother, in some countries they seem much less willing to use their vote in government elections. In the last British general election, for example, only 61% of voters turned out, with just 59% using their vote in 2001.
Sociologists are interested in the reasons for this apparent disenchantment. However, they stress that political life isn’t just limited to what goes on in the government, and in political parties. A wide variety of social movements, for instance, exist outside of these formal frameworks. The growth of groups opposed to the damaging effects of globalization, or the emergence of activists who protest against the war in Iraq, animal testing or abortion, shows that interest in politics hasn’t disappeared completely. In fact, it’s often this kind of politics that people feel really passionate about.
In this month’s interview, Anthony Giddens explains how he first became interested in politics, and suggests ways in which politicians can reignite people’s interest in parliamentary democracy. He also suggests why, in his view, politicians need to listen to sociological ideas.
We’ve also added some tips about using Sociology to research issues raised in the interview, and have suggested some other material you can draw upon, including recent books and Internet sites.
You are well known for your sociological writing, but in more recent years have become involved with politics. You wrote a book called The Third Way, which had a big impact on Labour party policy. A few years ago, you were appointed a Labour peer in the House of Lords. What led you to become interested in politics?
I became involved in politics because I wanted to be able to apply some of the main ideas about changes in modern society that I had discussed in my sociological books. I’ve wanted to show how sociological ideas are relevant to the political decisions that governments have to take today. For example, one of the main themes in Sociology is globalization. Even about ten years ago it was very hard to get any politicians interested in the idea of globalization, but I was one of the first people to try. Globalization is extremely relevant to what happens in political life – for example, one aspect of globalization is new economic competition from countries like China and India. This competition has had a huge impact on jobs in this country. In Britain people by and large don’t work in factories any more - they work in offices, in travel agencies, in other words in knowledge or service-based industries. This tremendous change, which has all sorts of difficult social implications, is in part due to countries like India and China taking over industrial manufacture. It’s only if politicians begin to understand processes like globalization that they can understand, and tackle, some of the new social problems arising in the UK.
Why do you think people have lost interest in politics?
We have to be careful about saying that people have lost interest in politics. For example, if we take a comparative view and look at several other countries, not just our own country, the pattern looks quite different. If you consider the recent elections in France for a new President, for example, 85% of the population turned out to vote. Again, in the Italian national elections that happened a year ago, over 80% of the population voted. So it’s not the case that there has been a straightforward reduction in voting everywhere. In Britain there does seem to be at the moment a decline in voting patterns, but I’m not so sure that that is an irreversible trend. In the next election if people feel there is a lot at stake, then we could well see a rise in voting levels.
However, it is true that many people are no longer satisfied just with parliamentary democracy. Far from becoming alienated from politics, many are turning towards more active involvement, but outside of traditional political parties. For example, the Internet provides lots of different opportunities for people to take a more direct role in political discussion, and there has also been a rise in activist groups and social movements. Many people have come to see that parliamentary politics is only one way in which they can get politically involved in a globalised world. In turn these groups can affect mainstream politics. For example, ecological issues have now become central to orthodox politics in the UK, but were previously mainly driven by activists. It’s a complex picture.
How can politicians excite people again about parliamentary democracy and political parties?
I think politicians now need a more positive vision – we can’t just get people interested by stressing risks like climate change, avian flu and nuclear proliferation. Those risks are real and they are important, and political leaders will have to deal with them to make the world safer and more secure. But I think we also need a more positive vision of what the world desirably should be like. What world do we want to live in? How are we going to make that possible? We need political leaders to come up with positive plans for tackling issues of global inequality, we need political leaders to try to bring greater peace across the world, and we need political leaders to try to create a world in which the sum of human happiness increases.
Additional materials
Guide to researching politics in Sociology
On pages 839 to 891 of Sociology, you’ll find a whole chapter devoted to politics, government and terrorism. This covers a wide range of issues, including the global spread of democracy (p. 859 to 859); changes in voting behaviour (p. 856 to 857); and the rise in social movements (p. 867 to 870). You may find parts of chapter 15 on the media helpful, especially the sections on political control (p. 613-616) and the global media and democracy (p. 616 to 618). Earlier in the book, the discussion of Habermas’ work on democracy and the public sphere (p. 118 to 119) offers some useful theoretical insights.
Internet links
http://www.idea.int/
Detailed and up-to-date information on the worldwide spread of democracy, including issues such as elections, political parties, and women’s political participation. Click on the section called ‘regions’ for country-by-country summaries.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy_and_power/index.jsp
Resource centre bringing together debates about global current affairs, including democracy and power. Recent articles include an assessment of Blair’s legacy, and the threats to democracy across the world today.
http://www.electoralcommission.gov.uk/
Organization responsible for overseeing the electoral process in the UK, for managing political party registration and financing, and for raising public awareness about elections and voting. Includes summary of recent research showing political debate is ‘alive and well’ in Britain today.
Other books by Polity
Over to You, Mr. Brown: How Labour Can Win Again by Anthony Giddens
Sample PDFs: Table of Contents | Introduction
Anthony Giddens' book The Third Way had a far-reaching impact upon the evolution of New Labour in the UK, and upon left of centre policies in many other countries. In this new book, Giddens argues that Labour won’t win the next election unless they reinvigorate their ideological position and policy outlook. The biggest barrier to securing a fourth term is not the renewal of other political parties, but public disaffection, which at the moment extends to all politicians.
Published March 2007
256pp
Why We Hate Politics by Colin Hay
Sample PDFs: Table of Contents | Chapter One
Why do we hate politics and politicians so much? How pervasive is political disaffection? And what is politics anyway? This book provides a series of innovative and provocative answers to these questions. It begins by tracing the origins and development of the current climate of political disenchantment across a range of democracies. Far from revealing a rising tide of apathy, the author argues that a significant proportion of those who have withdrawn from formal politics are engaged in other modes of political activity.
Published January 2007
200pp
Copyright © Anthony Giddens 2007
The right of Anthony Giddens to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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