Political socialisation narratives of young activists. Contexts, settings, and actors.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The literature on the political participation of young people fluctuates between two approaches. The first stresses the absence of political participation in this age group, qualifying this condition as problematic. The second focusses on a distinctive political horizon, broader and non-institutional, emphasizing creativity and youth mobilisation in certain civic arenas. Regardless of which position one takes, it seems clear that the way in which young people deal with the political universe is undergoing changes. To examine and understand these changes, it is important to analyse the processes of political socialisation. This article is based on the biographical narratives generated by young activists in the context of a project completed in Portugal. We looked at the processes of political socialisation to understand what contexts were crucial for their formation as activists. Their narratives clearly lay out the contexts, settings, and actors that they consider relevant for their political socialisation. This material is the object of our analysis. We have concluded that friends and peers are crucial in this process at different stages of life. Through friends, knowledge bases and ways of questioning the world are constructed, while at the same time systems of political action are also experimented.