ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 I examined voter turnout and found that voting was more volatile among the young than would be expected based on the literature. In this way, voting seems to be an attractive way for young people to have their voices heard at some times and less attractive at other times. However, voting is but one of many forms of political participation related to the electoral world. In fact, Marsh and Kaase (1979b, 86) excluded voting from their analysis of political participation arguing that ‘voting is a unique form of political behaviour in the sense that it occurs only rarely, is highly biased by strong mechanisms of social control and social desirability enhanced by the rain-dance ritual of campaigning, and does not involve the voter in informational or other costs.’ While I take a very different position to Marsh and Kaase (as per arguments made in Chapter 1) Marsh and Kaase’s comment attunes us to the fact that voting is one among many forms of participation.
