Political Literacy of Undergraduates with Special Reference to Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in the University of Ruhuna

Abstract

Political literacy is the major factor that guides the citizens of any state to use the power of the vote properly. The literature has emphasized the severe drawbacks of liberal democracy due to the inactive citizens who are active only during the period of elections and do not have a knowledge or understanding regarding political phenomena related to the decision to vote or a proper attitude other than the factors related to the leaders. Identifying the factors affecting the political literacy of undergraduates at five levels: political expertise, knowledge, awareness, interest, and participation, was the core objective of the study. The sub-objective was to identify the difference among the levels of each factor. The sample size of the study was 299 undergraduates in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, selected using a simple random sampling method. Descriptive and inferential analytical tools were utilized to analyze the primary data. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used in the inferential techniques. The Wilk’s Lambda and Hotelling’s Trace test statistics and Bonferroni post-hoc analysis were conducted to detect the exact levels of interdependent variables, which vary with five aspects of political literacy. The effect of the academic year, frequency of political discussions in the family, colleagues’ interest in politics, participation of societies and social works in the university, medium of studying, and nature of the living area were recognized as the significant factors that affect political literacy according to the results. The objectives of the study have been satisfied by identifying that all the variables showed significant mean differences in political expertise, knowledge, awareness, interest, and participation over different levels of the considered variables. There is a variation in the political literacy of the undergraduates according to their social factors. Considering the social factors of relevant authorities, there should be a proper mechanism to enhance political literacy among the young generation.