Social representations of “apolitical people” among different citizenship styles of Greek youth

Katerina Karageorgou; Anna Madoglou; Dimitris Kalamaras

Katerina Karageorgou Department of Psychology Panteion University, Athens, Greece
Anna Madoglou Department of Psychology Panteion University, Athens, Greece
Dimitris Kalamaras Department of Psychology Panteion University, Athens, Greece

Keywords: apolitical citizens, political self-definition, citizenship styles, social representations, Greek youth

Abstract

The present study focuses on different types of political engagement (citizenship styles) among Greek youth and their perception of apolitical people. International literature provides various concepts of “apolitical” behaviour, leading us to suppose the existence of a controversy-oriented apoliticism. Certain concepts correspond to a positively perceived notion (seemingly apolitical citizens: latent engagement), while others to a negatively perceived notion (genuine passivity). Our sample consists of 83 men and 112 women aged from 19 to 35 who replied to a set of questions regarding their political engagement (interest, participation, alternative participation and political self-definition) and their perception of apoliticism (perceived traits of apolitical people, perception of apolitical behaviour and its consequences). Building on Amna & Ekman’s (2014) study, we apply multivariate cluster analysis technique on empirical data derived from our study (standardized scores of political participation and political interest) in order to investigate the extent to which their typology applies among Greek youth. The results of the analysis confirm that we have to consider four distinctive forms of political engagement corresponding to active, standby, unengaged, and disillusioned citizens. Furthermore, we notice differences between those groups and their political self-definition. Combining this analytical framework with the use of social representations theory provides a better understanding of how the concept of apoliticism is reflected among Greek youth. We find that citizenship styles represent apolitical people in a different way: the more politically engaged groups are anchored in a negative perception of apolitical people and consequences of apolitical behavior in Greek society, while the less politically engaged groups have a more positive perception.

Author Biographies

Katerina Karageorgou, Department of Psychology Panteion University, Athens, Greece

KATERINA KARAGEORGOU is a PhD candidate in Social Psychology at Panteion University (Athens, Greece). Her research interests focus on the application of social psychology theories (social representations, identity) to the field of political psychology.

Contact Info: Department of Psychology Panteion University, Sygrou Avenue 136, 17671, Athens, Greece.

Anna Madoglou, Department of Psychology Panteion University, Athens, Greece

ANNA MADOGLOU is a Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. She studied Psychology at the University Paris VIII (France) and specialized in Social Psychology. She continued her postgraduate study (D.E.A.) in Comparative Psychology of Cognitive Activities and Social Interactions at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. She is a Doctor of Social Psychology of the Department of Psychology of Panteion University, where she works also from 1993 up to present. Her inquiring interests are focused on the processes of social influence, in the action of minorities, in social representations and in voluntary (social memory) and involuntary (social oblivion) forms of social thought. Department of Psychology Panteion University, Sygrou Avenue 136, 17671, Athens, Greece. Tel. 0030-6976569076. E-mail: madoglou@panteion.gr

Dimitris Kalamaras, Department of Psychology Panteion University, Athens, Greece

DIMITRIS KALAMARAS is Contract Lecturer of Statistics in the Department of Psychology at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. He holds a MSc in Applied Statistics, in the fields of Survival analysis, Demography, Social Statistics and Biostatistics. He is Doctor of Social Statistics of the Department of Sociology in Panteion University of Athens. His current research interests focus on Multivariate Data Analysis, Latent Variables, Structural Equation Models, Ordinal-Categorical data analysis, Data Mining and Big Data Analysis. Concurrently he is employed as Data Analyst (designing and managing experiments and surveys and dealing with the initial data collection) at consulting company of Greece.

Contact Info: Department of Psychology Panteion University, Sygrou Avenue 136, 17671, Athens, Greece. Tel. 0030-6937330419. E-mail: dkalam@panteion.gr