From Denizen to Citizen: Contesting Representations of Young People and the Voting Age

Abstract

The point of departure for this article is the failed attempt in Australia in 2018 to lower the voting age below 18. The focus is on citizenship and how particular representations of children and young people are used to justify not giving young people the vote. I draw on the theory of representations developed by Bourdieu (1992), Moscovici (1980) as well as Taylor’s theory of misrecognition (1994) to highlight how particular representations are used in some arguments made by those opposing the enfranchisement of people under 18 years of age. Those representations emphasise alleged deficiencies in young people’s political literacy, capacity for good judgement and experience due largely to a developmental stage in the life cycle they are said to occupy. In assessing these arguments, evidence is provided that demonstrates the various ways young people are being political and well able to engage in complex political processes and exercise good judgment. This raises various issues about how the political capabilities of young people are understood in a context characterized as a crisis of democracy.