Political apathy amongst students : a case study of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS
Abstract
The primary motivation for this research, in which a qualitative method was employed, was to examine political apathy amongst students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The secondary motivation was to question whether youth political apathy threatens the consolidation of democracy. The researchers arranged four focus groups at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. A purposive sampling technique was utilised. All 50 participants in the study were Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University undergraduate and postgraduate black students, with ages ranging from 21 to 35 years. The researchers encouraged participants to have maximum participation in the focus group deliberations. The researchers also made use of elite interviews in the study. The findings of this study suggest that political apathy does exist amongst students at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Most of the participants in the focus groups indicated that young people in post-apartheid South Africa have no interest in politics.
Description
CITATION: Breakfast, N. B., Bradshaw, G. & Haines, R. 2017. Political apathy amongst students : a case study of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Africa’s Public Service Delivery & Performance Review, 5(1):a172, doi:10.4102/apsdpr.v5i1.172.
The original publication is available at https://apsdpr.org
The original publication is available at https://apsdpr.org
Keywords
Political sociology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Students -- Political activity
Citation
Breakfast, N. B., Bradshaw, G. & Haines, R. 2017. Political apathy amongst students : a case study of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Africa’s Public Service Delivery & Performance Review, 5(1):a172, doi:10.4102/apsdpr.v5i1.172.