I don’t quite get their difference. Aren’t they just interchangeable terms? Political apathy and indifference both mean lack of interest in politics but upon searching, they are different but I can’t quite understand how.
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Political Apathy specifically comes from being disillusioned about politics. Having seen too many politicians doing the opposite of what they promised made you give up and stop getting involved in politics since you feel you have no power to influence it anyways.
Political Indifference is more general, and also covers Political Ignorance where you simply never cared to even find out what a politician stands for, or a general feeling of distance since you feel you’re not involved in the country at all (for example because you’re about to leave in the future anyways)
So using an US example: someone who says “I don’t vote Trump because he never built the wall he promised” is both apathetic and indifferent about the coming US election, someone who says “I won’t vote because I don’t care to find out what either candidate wants to do” is not apathetic but indifferent
The Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary defines “apathetic” as “having or showing little or no interest, concern, or emotion,” and “indifferent” as “marked by a lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern for something : apathetic.” I would say that there is no meaningful difference.
Political Apathy – disinterest due to overexposure. You have a general sense of what’s going on in the world of politics but don’t care cause you’ve seen it all and been disappointed enough times to stop caring. You’re just generally over it.
Political Indifference – never had interest to begin with. You don’t keep up with politics and never really have.
“Apathy” means not caring.
“Indifference” means not seeing a meaningful difference between two options.
You can be quite concerned about the political situation in your country while also regarding none of the major parties as being much different from each other, and not believing that any individual action you can take, including voting, will change anything.
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