Who are the Young People Who Engage as Youth Representatives? Routes into Formal Youth Participation

Abstract

Abstract Young people’s participation—or lack thereof—has been an area of broad debate in youth policy in recent decades. A key argument is that young people’s participation is seen as vital for the future of democracy (as young people are seen as the future of societies) and that youth policies need to establish youth representation structures where young people learn democratic citizenship like youth councils or youth parliaments. However, there is some ambivalence associated with such forms of participation. On the one hand, only a minority of young people seem to consider them a ‘real’ opportunity for influence, while, on the other hand, analysis has revealed the paternalistic structures of such adult-led youth participation. Both require and contribute to the reproduction of a specific adult citizenship habitus. Indeed, some young people participate in youth representation which we refer to as ‘formal participation’. The aim of this paper is to understand why and how these young people actually engage in institutionalised forms of youth participation that according to most of their peers are ineffective and irrelevant. Research has been limited on this question to date, although—as we argue—such knowledge not only identifies the conditions and requirements under which young people follow the call of being ‘made’ citizens (Hall et al., 1999) but also sheds light on why so many young people do not participate in formal youth participation that they feel does not fit their needs and interests. Based on qualitative interviews with young people involved in different forms of youth representation in three different European cities conducted in the context of a European research project, the paper adopts a biographical approach and aims to answer the question of what makes young people become and stay involved in youth councils, youth parliaments, and/or youth organisations. Against the background of exemplary biographical cases, key dimensions of formal participation biographies are elaborated that explain why certain young people are attracted to rather than deterred from acquiring an adult citizenship habitus. A key finding is that such biographies are not so much the result of value-driven education processes but are functional for coping with specific biographical constellations.