Understanding declining voter turnout in Canada and other late-modern capitalist democracies: a contemporary analysis of T.H. Marshall's Social citizenship
| dc.contributor.author | Stewart, Lois Neva | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Hallgrímsdóttir, Helga | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-12-22T19:13:56Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2014-12-22T19:13:56Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 2014 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 2014-12-22 | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Sociology | |
| dc.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy Ph.D. | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | In this research, I undertake an analysis of the relationship between aggregate voter turnout and income inequality within late-modern capitalist democracies to better understand the problem of declining voter turnout in these societies. I analyse this relationship at the sub-national level using provincial-level Canadian data and at the national level through a sample of twenty-one nations. At both levels, cross-sectional time-series regression analyses of pooled data are applied. Findings are interpreted through a citizenship lens; specifically the work of T.H. Marshall (1950) and Esping-Andersen (1990), as both social and political inclusion are fundamental and constitutive elements of citizenship. Initial findings include a statistically significant negative relationship between income inequality and voter turnout, for both provincial and federal general elections in Canada (1976-2011); this relationship is also found at the national level in a sample of older democracies (1980-2013). The relationship holds using various measures of income inequality including the Gini coefficient and a range of income ratios. However, once time is controlled for in the model this relationship seems to disappear. This suggests a lack of support for the theory that income inequality has a direct impact on participation in the exercise of political power. Rather, a more fundamental factor or factors seem to be causing these societal shifts. I discuss alternate ways of understanding this relationship, including how declining voter turnout and income inequality might be related to the broader socio-political and economic changes associated with economic globalisation and the global spread of neo-liberal fiscal policies. I conclude that to better understand the relationship between voter turnout and income inequality further research is required. | en_US |
| dc.description.proquestcode | 0630 | en_US |
| dc.description.proquestemail | stewartl@uvic.ca | en_US |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Graduate | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5793 | |
| dc.language | English | eng |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.rights.temp | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.subject | voter turnout | en_US |
| dc.subject | social citizenship | en_US |
| dc.subject | income inequality | en_US |
| dc.title | Understanding declining voter turnout in Canada and other late-modern capitalist democracies: a contemporary analysis of T.H. Marshall's Social citizenship | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |