Can’t, Won’t and What’s the Point? A Theory of the UK Public’s Muted Response to Austerity

ABSTRACT

Since 2010 the UK government has undertaken extensive spending cuts which have manifested in significant reductions in welfare, local authority and justice system spending. The cuts have been linked with rising poverty, food bank use and serious health issues. Such extreme cuts are likely to affect how citizens view and interact with government. This paper argues that the theories of civic voluntarism, grievance and policy feedback in combination explain why austerity has provoked relatively little political participation in the UK.

KEYWORDS:

• Austerity
• political participation
• civic voluntarism
• grievance theory
• policy feedback

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. The author would like to thank Dr John Boswell and Dr Matt Ryan for their support and advice on this article, as well as the reviewers for their valuable feedback.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/P000673/1].

Notes on contributors

Kate Harrison

Kate Harrison is a PhD researcher at the University of Southampton, funded by the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership. Her research focuses on the impact of austerity on political participation in the UK.