Participation and Non-Participation in Student Activism by Alexander Hensby

Author:Alexander Hensby [Hensby, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Civics & Citizenship, Political Ideologies, Democracy
ISBN: 9781783486946
Google: jaoIswEACAAJ
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International
Published: 2017-01-15T05:27:07+00:00

Table 5.3 Participation in the student protests and pre-university activism

N = 2,485.

Table 5.4 Comparing students’ pre-university activism with participation in the 2010/11 protests

N = 553.

Of course, the likelihood of converting political interests into action depends to a large extent on whether a student has been asked to participate or not. The modes of invitation may differ, but this is as true for ‘liking’ Facebook pages as it is for joining occupations. Although a central tenet of Verba and Nie’s (1972) resource mobilisation theory, this applies to social networks as well as institutional recruitment strategies. To measure this, survey respondents were asked to state whether they had been invited to participate in the student protests by a range of different recruitment agents and channels, results of which are presented in table 5.4. ‘Participation’ is again subjectively defined to include any action the respondent considers relevant, but it is clear that the protests achieved a wide invitational reach, with 70.9 per cent recalling being invited via at least one of the available options. Despite this, the percentage of those who acted upon this invitation is not especially higher than the overall participation rate, at 29.1 per cent.

This necessitates a comparative analysis of the different recruitment channels. Perhaps inevitably, table 5.5 shows that the student union had the widest invitational reach. This reflects the fact that unions typically have access to email lists for their university’s entire student population, though its largely impersonal mass-communication method may also account for its low conversion rate: only 30.1 per cent of invited students took part in the protests. In contrast, ‘network’ invitations via university friends and course colleagues achieved a much higher conversion rate. Although they account for a smaller yield of students overall, they do again point to the value of the social context of activism participation, as evidenced in the interview accounts of Danny, Rhiannon, Jeremy, Justine, and Donna. It is possible that their friendship groups would not have known about the NUS demonstration without the publicity provided by their student union, but it was arguably the network that ensured that their initial interest did not go unconverted.

Table 5.5 Invitations from networks and mobilising agencies to participate in the student protests, and their rate of conversion

N = 2,485.

Question: Have you been invited to participate in the student protests against fees by any of the following? Have you participated in any way in the student protests against fees?

Given the large amounts of press attention paid to the new social networking technologies at students’ disposal (Mason, 2011b; Penny, 2011), it is perhaps unsurprising that ‘Facebook group/event invitations’ achieved the second-highest reach of invitations to students. Unlike mass emails, there is a reciprocity to Facebook event invitations as users are encouraged to RSVP. Moreover, users will receive them through groups/pages they have joined/liked, or via individual friends. Recalling discussions from chapter 2, student interviewees recognised Facebook as a key site for promoting activism events and activities, both online and offline:

If you’re gonna organise a protest you put it on Facebook – that’s how I find out about protests.

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