<p>This paper contributes to the extant literature by providing a detailed analysis of political exclusion in Europe by examining intersectional inequalities. We apply a generalised concept of intersectionality that allows it to “travel” and examine different types of intersectional inequalities beyond the original aspects studied by the pioneering Black feminist struggles. Given historical patterns in the European context, we examine inequalities and their intersections by gender, class and age with respect to three different repertoires of political action: institutional, protest and consumer politics. To do so, we examine data from an original cross-national survey in Europe that contains all key variables for making sense not just of patterns but also the mechanisms underlying them in terms of resources, political engagement and structural availability. Our findings show important intersecting inequalities in participation with younger women being significantly less active than young men in both institutional and protest participation. Moreover, we present evidence showing that this is likely to be explained by their lower structural availability as captured by their lesser likelihood to be members of associations. This suggests that barriers to joining organisations for women in turn also limit their ability for wider political action and their opportunities for having democratic say in society. We also show that consumer participation is not as affected by inequalities. However, this may be more limited in scope given individualisation. Overall, young men in non-manual occupations were found to be the most politically active, whereas older women in manual occupations tended to be the most marginalised group with respect to opportunities for political voice. Our findings show how different types of inequalities can combine to politically exclude certain groups from having political say in Europe.</p>

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Intersectionality and inequalities in political participation in Europe: how do gender, class and age relate to political exclusion?

  • Maria Grasso,
  • Marco Giugni

摘要

This paper contributes to the extant literature by providing a detailed analysis of political exclusion in Europe by examining intersectional inequalities. We apply a generalised concept of intersectionality that allows it to “travel” and examine different types of intersectional inequalities beyond the original aspects studied by the pioneering Black feminist struggles. Given historical patterns in the European context, we examine inequalities and their intersections by gender, class and age with respect to three different repertoires of political action: institutional, protest and consumer politics. To do so, we examine data from an original cross-national survey in Europe that contains all key variables for making sense not just of patterns but also the mechanisms underlying them in terms of resources, political engagement and structural availability. Our findings show important intersecting inequalities in participation with younger women being significantly less active than young men in both institutional and protest participation. Moreover, we present evidence showing that this is likely to be explained by their lower structural availability as captured by their lesser likelihood to be members of associations. This suggests that barriers to joining organisations for women in turn also limit their ability for wider political action and their opportunities for having democratic say in society. We also show that consumer participation is not as affected by inequalities. However, this may be more limited in scope given individualisation. Overall, young men in non-manual occupations were found to be the most politically active, whereas older women in manual occupations tended to be the most marginalised group with respect to opportunities for political voice. Our findings show how different types of inequalities can combine to politically exclude certain groups from having political say in Europe.