The Political Participation of Older People in Europe: The Greying of our Democracies

The Political Participation of Older People in Europe The Greying of Our Democracies

Achim Goerres

The Political Participation of Older People in Europe

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The Political Participation of Older People in Europe The Greying of Our Democracies Achim Goerres Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences University of Cologne, Germany

© Achim Goerres 2009 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN-13: 978-0-230-22052-2 ISBN-10: 0-230-22052-5

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This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goerres, Achim, 1977– The political participation of older people in Europe: the greying of our democracies/Achim Goerres. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-230-22052-2 ISBN-10: 0-230-22052-5

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1. Older people—Europe—Political activity. 2. Political participation—Europe. I. Title. HQ1064.E85G64 2009 305.26094’09045—dc22 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne

2008046492

Für meine Eltern, Biggi und Andrea

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Contents List of Tables

x

List of Figures

xi

About the Author

xiii

Preface

xiv

List of Abbreviations

xvi

1 Introduction: The Political Participation of Older People in an Era of Demographic Ageing 1.1 Exploring the political participation of older people in Europe

3

1.2 The ‘state of the art’ in the literature on the political participation of older people

8

1.3 A model for studying the political participation of older people

12

1.4 The country-level implications of age-related effects

15

1.5 Organisation of the book

18

2 An Age-Centred Model of Political Participation 2.1 Assumptions about human nature

22

2.2 A modified resource-based perspective on political participation

24

2.3 Age-related effects on political behaviour and their implications for ageing societies

29

2.4 Summary of propositions

37

3 Voting Participation 3.1 The cohort explanation of voting participation

40

3.2 Methodological excursion: An international cross-sectional approach

43

3.3 Independent individual-level variables

51

3.4 International cross-sectional regression analysis

54

3.5 Summary and discussion

66 vii

viii Contents

4 Party Choice in Britain and West Germany 4.1 Voting for old age interests: The failure of grey parties

72

4.2 Descriptive analysis of age groups and political generations

74

4.3 Combined hypothesis testing in multivariate regressions

82

4.4 Summary and discussion

93

5 Membership of Political Organisations 5.1 The dynamics of changing membership structures

97

5.2 Analysing differences at the individual level

101

5.3 Longitudinal analysis of age structures of membership in 25 European countries

111

5.4 Summary and discussion

119

6 Non-institutionalised Participation outside Organisations 6.1 Average levels of participation and the age ratio by country

7

124

6.2 Longitudinal analysis of Western Europe 1981–2000

126

6.3 Multivariate regression analysis

130

6.4 Summary and discussion

137

The Experience of Older Participants in the English Council Tax Protests in 2004/5 7.1 The background of the council tax protests and protesters 140 7.2 Resources and motivation to protest in old age

143

7.3 The experience of social images of old age and protest

149

7.4 The lack of a common senior identity

152

7.5 Mobilisation and opportunities for older protesters

154

7.6 A new generation of protesting older people

155

7.7 Summary and discussion

157

8 Summary and Conclusions 8.1 Older people’s political participation – a summary

160

8.2 Why the findings matter for political behaviourists and social gerontologists

167

8.3 Why the findings matter for ageing democracies

170

Contents

ix

Appendix

176

Notes

185

References

192

Index

207

Tables 1.1 Patterns of difference between older (60+) and younger (