Collective identity: Feelings and belonging to the social sphere: Citizen participation and pluralism

Forms of social participation

• Belonging to an NGO:
  • A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit voluntary group, which is organized on a local, national or international level to address issues in support of the public good.
  • NGOs can help people directly, spread awareness about a certain problem or fight for certain laws.
• Consumer associations are advocacy groups to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending or false advertising.
• You can also donate money for various foundations and certain projects. You can find those for example at globalgiving.org.

Mechanisms of political participation

• Exercising the right to vote:
  • To vote in a general election, you must:
    • be registered to vote, for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland you can do it at gov.uk/register-to-vote. You only register once.
    • be 18 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’).
    • be a British, Irish or qualifying Commonwealth citizen;
    • be resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years);
    • not be legally excluded from voting.
  • In Scotland to vote in Scottish Parliament and the local election, you have to be 16;
• Membership to a political party:
  • Currently, the biggest political parties are the Labour Party with 519000 members, Conservative Party with 191000 members and SNP with 125534 members.
  • You will have to pay a subscription in most cases. Every party has different subscriptions cost.
  • Most common restrictions in applying for membership are:
    • Age restrictions;
    • citizenship restrictions;
    • a commitment to the party’s principles;
    • limiting holding membership of other political parties;
    • limiting standing against officially endorsed candidates;
    • membership of specifically prohibited political parties;
    • personal conduct expectations and party rule compliance.