A Theoretical and Empirical Approach to Depoliticization and Political Involvement.

Sociologist Seymour M. Lipset reports that a Swedish newspaper editor recently told him that politics in Sweden is boring. The transformation of politics from vivid clashes over ideology to what some people consider a dull, technical discussion about means for promoting goals questioned by none is reported to take place not only in Sweden but in the other Scandinavian countries as well. This process is often referred to as the depoliticization of politics. Depoliticization then seems to imply a transformation of political ideologies into a set of more or less distinct administrative technologies based on a widespread consensus as to what kind of goal one should try to attain. Even if ideological differences are not wiped out altogether ideological differences are de-emphasized in a depoliticized political community. A decreasing ideological saliency is an important aspect of so-called depoliticization. It is in this sense is often supposed to cause a decline of subjective involvement in political affairs. Subjective involvement in political affairs will probably not be reduced throughout the citizenry when ideological saliency becomes less manifest. Much will depend on the ideological style of individual citizens and of their immediate environments, and on the "goodness of fit" of individual and environmental ideological styles. Only if there is a less good fit between individual and environmental ideological styles do people suspect a decline of political involvement.