Young People's Political Research Articles

The Role of Young People's Political Participation in Building a Strong Democracy: Case Study in Indonesia

This research discusses political participation among young people as the key to building and improving the political system in Indonesia. Young people play an important role as the future generation of voters who have great potential in determining political direction and policies. In this context, political awareness and political education are key factors in forming a young generation who are active and responsible in the political process. This research also discusses challenges such as apathy towards politics and efforts that can be made to overcome this problem. Through active participation, comprehensive political education, and involvement in political dialogue, the younger generation has great potential to become agents of positive change in building a strong and clean democracy in Indonesia.

Young people's articulations and geographies of diasporic politics: Perspectives from the Greek, Jewish and Palestinian diasporas

This paper examines the geographies of how young people, aged 11–25, in the Greek, Jewish and Palestinian diasporas in the Midlands region of England articulate notions of formal and informal politics. In doing so, it connects work on diasporic politics with work on the geographies of diaspora, young people's politics, and, in particular, diasporic youth politics. The paper discusses how young people have views on politics and on being political but feel that they struggle to have their voices heard by those in positions of power. At the same time, it paints a picture of how these participants articulate such feelings of politics in complex, multi-scalar, multi-directional ways. In doing so, they are potentially creating new spaces to feel and be political. The paper therefore stresses that it is important that diasporic politics takes into account the views of young people and that assumptions should not be made as to where such politics are located.

Educational outcomes of political participation? Young first-time voters 3 years after the Scottish Independence Referendum

ABSTRACT After the enfranchisement of 16- and 17-year olds in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, much research continued to prioritise questions of how education influences young people's political engagement. By contrast, this paper advances an original focus on educational outcomes of youth political participation and investigates how political engagement might have educational consequences. Shortly after the referendum, we interviewed a strategic sample of first-time voters aged 16–20, who had voted ‘yes’ to Scottish independence. We re-interviewed a sub-sample 3 years on, facilitating longitudinal analysis and novel qualitative data. Our analysis demonstrates how, from the perspective of remarkably engaged participants, referendum engagement has three kinds of educational consequences. First, participants describe learning about politics through referendum participation and their subsequent reflection on it. Second, participants understood their political engagements as informing their trajectories into and through post-compulsory education, including subject choices. Third, participants discussed learning about themselves and their career aspirations, ‘growing up’ and developing ‘mature’ political attitudes, via ongoing, shifting political engagement. This article contributes significant new insights about youth political engagement and lowering the voting age, by showing how young people understand their political participation as influencing their formal educational pathways and informal learning, about politics and themselves.

Young People's Political Participation: New and Old Forms in Contemporary Spain

This article is related to the literature concerning the decline of traditional forms of political participation in young people. It seeks to understand younger Spaniards' attitudes towards active participation in democratic processes and, more specifically, differences between those young people engaged in citizen-oriented political actions related to political parties and those engaged in cause-oriented activities. The main goal of this paper is to explain the relationship between young people and politics, focusing on three types of comparisons: (i) between young people, adults and seniors, (ii) in both kinds of actions, and (iii) across three theoretical models that scholars have been used indiscriminately to testing different models explaining why people became active in politics, each of them influenced by different political science research traditions. Data show a great disparity in the explanatory power of independent variables among age groups. A better performance of civic volutantism model and also in cause-oriented participation.

Political orientation in youth beyond the left-right divide: testing a three-factor model of political orientation and its relatedness to personal values

ABSTRACT The utility of the left-right dimension of political orientation, including among youth, has been questioned recently. Moreover, a sizeable share of young voters in Slovenia has a hard time describing their political orientation. In present research we thus explored whether a multi-dimensional model of social, economic and international dimension, could be better suited for describing young people's political orientations. In addition, as values precede political stances, we explored the relatedness of personal values with proposed dimensions of political orientation and whether the predictive power of regression models containing control background variables could be improved by their inclusion. We used FES Youth Study Southeast Europe 2018/19 data of 1,015 14-29-year-old Slovenians. The three dimensions exhibited good fit to the data and were relatively independent of the left-right placements, offering valuable additional insight into political thinking of youth. Moreover, the values were predictive of scores on all three dimensions over and beyond the included control variables, and shares of explained variances were higher than those with the left-right dimension. While the study has some limitations, findings suggest that a multi-dimensional approach to political orientation could be beneficial in research dealing with the aspects of the ever-changing political and social landscape.

‘Doing great things for the world’: merit and the justice politics of young people receiving an elite educational scholarship

ABSTRACT Higher Education policy researchers have highlighted the link between merit and privileged social background with respect to who is most likely to win merit-based scholarships in Universities. Yet little is known about how students from various social backgrounds may inhabit such a scholarship. In this paper, we draw on theorisations of the relationship between meritocracy and justice in order to analyse the subjective work of several undergraduate students who are positioned as winners in a meritocracy, due to being recipients of a generous merit-based scholarship. We explore the different techniques these students use to justify their access to privilege, unpacking their notions of justice, and consider them in relation to their social backgrounds. We argue that recognising their distinct constructions of merit and justice can help advance understanding of how the logics of meritocracy are (re)made in the context of University merit scholarships.

Engagement, passivity and detachment: 16‐year‐old students’ conceptions of politics and the relationship between people and politics

While there is a wealth of literature on young people and politics, most studies have examined their interest, trust and participation in politics as well as their attitudes toward and knowledge about formal politics. Little is known, however, about young people and the concept of politics. This article investigates 16‐year‐old students’ perceptions of the concept of politics and their conceptions of the relationship between people and politics. This knowledge is valuable for citizenship and social studies education, as an increasingly polarised political climate poses challenges to democratic politics and, consequently, to young people's political engagement and participation. In this study, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with nine students at five Norwegian upper secondary schools. The students varied in their interest and involvement in politics. A main finding is that the students perceived politics as processes related to shaping society, as decisions and activities related to ruling a country, and as the activities of discussion and debate. Three conceptions of the relationship between people and politics are presented: engagement, passivity, and detachment. In addition, while the 16‐year‐olds participated in political discussions privately and at school, they stated that they did not participate in political discussions in social media. Implications for citizenship and social studies education include the need to strengthen the bottom‐up perspective on politics and focus on in‐depth understanding of political processes and tools and methods of social‐scientific enquiry, as well as providing students with opportunities for and practice with handling opposition in political discussions online.

Becoming independent: political participation and youth transitions in the Scottish referendum.

Sociological debates on youth engagement with electoral politics play out against a backdrop of supposed 'decline' in civic participation (e.g. Putnam , Norris, ), in turn contextualized by theories of individualization in 'late' or 'reflexive' modernity (Beck, Giddens). However, the enfranchisement of 16 and 17 year olds in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum catalysed remarkably high levels of voter turnout among this youngest group, and was accompanied by apparently ongoing political engagement. We explored this engagement among a strategic sample of young 'Yes' voters, in the immediate aftermath of this exceptional political event. Analysis of qualitative interview data generated an unanticipated finding; that interviewees narrated their political engagement biographically, articulated their referendum participation reflexively, and located their new political ideas, allegiances and actions in the context of their own transitions to 'independent' adulthood. This inspired us to rethink young people's political engagement in relation to youth transitions. Doing so enables a synthesis of divergent strands in the sociology of youth, and offers new insights into the combinations of 'personal' agentic and 'political' structural factors involved in young people's politicization.

Populism, Ideology and Contradiction: Mapping Young People's Political Views

Forms of populism have long been a component of modern political discourse and systems where democracy relies upon popular legitimacy. There is, however, an uneasy relationship between some widely held views of ‘the people’ and the parties which seek to govern them. Contemporary academic and political discourse on populism often equates these views with right-wing politics, whilst some radical scholars, suggest that these views, whilst controversial, are nonetheless examples of democratic expression. Using survey evidence from 14 European countries, we show that young people take up a mixture of political positions, some of which are strongly associated with indices of populism – cynicism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia – others of which do not map neatly onto the typical ‘left-right’ spectrum. We find evidence that some young people hold contradictory, often conflicting political viewpoints, which are reflective of the historical and cultural contexts of each location rather than of a ‘populist’ ideology. Where some theorists might use the term ‘populism’ pejoratively to denote a poorly and emotively grounded political ideology, we argue that this description denies its democratic legitimacy, as evidence suggests that young people draw on populist rhetoric to articulate views that are more reflective of local and regional concerns.

Effects of celebrity involvement on young people's political and civic engagement

This study introduced the concept of celebrity involvement, which is the audiences' relationship with mediated celebrities along three sub-dimensions: affinity, parasocial relationships, and identification. Based on this concept, this study examined the underlying mechanisms through which young people's involvement with celebrities influences their political and civic engagement. A survey of 248 undergraduate students in Macau, which is a Special Administrative Region of China, showed an indirect association of celebrity involvement with political and civic engagement, which was mediated by situational involvement and self-efficacy, respectively. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Young people, social media and connective action: from organisational maintenance to everyday political talk

Social media is pervasive in the lives of young people, and this paper critically analyses how politically engaged young people integrate social media use into their existing organisations and political communications. This qualitative research project studied how young people from a broad range of existing political and civic groups use social media for sharing information, mobilisation and, increasingly, as a means to redefine political action and political spaces. Twelve in-person focus groups were conducted in Australia, the USA and the UK with matched affinity groups based on university campuses. The groups were of four types: party political group, issue-based group, identity-based group and social group. Our focus group findings suggest that this in-depth approach to understanding young people's political engagement reveals important group-based differences emerging in young people's citizenship norms: between the dutiful allegiance to formal politics and a more personalised, self-actualising preference for online, discursive forms of political engagement and organising. The ways in which political information is broadcast, shared and talked about on social media by engaged young people demonstrate the importance of communicative forms of action for the future of political engagement and connective action.

The Impact of Online News Consumption on Young People's Political Participation

The informational usage of media has been identified as one of the most important factors that facilitate citizens' participation in political activities. This relationship becomes exceptionally intriguing in the 21st century, which is characterized by a growing popularity of new media, and concurrently, a decline of political and civic engagement in many societies, particularly among young people. Research findings about the link between new media usage and political participation have been inconclusive, and specific processes through which new media usage, especially the informational usage of such media, may affect political participation remain less than lucid. In this study, we propose a theoretical framework under which political knowledge and political efficacy are used to explain the possible connection between online news consumption and political participation. Through a survey of university students in Singapore, this study shows that the young people's consumption of online news is directly related to both online and offline political participation. At the same time, the consumption of online news is also indirectly related to online and offline political participation via political efficacy. Political knowledge, however, is found to be a mediating factor between online news consumption and online political participation but not offline political participation. This study not only allows us a more holistic view of the impact of online news on young people's political and civic engagement but also contributes to the existing literature on the relationship between news consumption and political participation by incorporating both online and offline political activities in the proposed theoretical model.

News consumption and political and civic engagement among young people

This study examined whether the use of various types of media for news consumption would influence young people's political and civic engagement through a survey of university students in Singapore. The findings showed that news consumption through different platforms related to the respondents' political and civic participation in different ways. Consumption of news through the traditional media was not significantly associated with either offline or online political participation. Instead, news consumption through the Internet and social network sites was significantly associated with both offline and online political and civic engagement and political knowledge. In addition, print and Internet news consumption was found to be significantly associated with political knowledge. Implications of the findings were also discussed.

Report: Social Differentiation in Young People's Political Participation

Children and Young People NowVol. 2014, No. 6 Resources: ResearchReport: Social Differentiation in Young People's Political ParticipationMatt Henn, Nick FoardMatt HennSearch for more papers by this author, Nick FoardSearch for more papers by this authorMatt Henn; Nick FoardPublished Online:7 Dec 2017https://doi.org/10.12968/cypn.2014.6.28AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 18 March 2014Volume 2014Issue 6ISSN (print): 1755-8093ISSN (online): 2515-7582 Metrics History Published online 7 December 2017 Published in print 18 March 2014 Information© MA Education LimitedPDF download

Why Has Civic Education Failed to Increase Young People's Political Participation?

Recent years have seen a revival of civic education. Advocates of this policy have cited the alleged declining normative political participation of young people as a primary reason for its need. This paper builds on the findings of a recent systematic review that examined the effect of civic education on young people's level of normative political engagement. The review found little evidence for civic education having a clear effect on voting/registering to vote, but did identify modest positive effects on forms of political expression (e.g. signing petitions). Hence, it seems civic education has broadly ‘failed’ in its specified aim. We argue here that this ‘failure’ reflects a mechanistic approach to policy and a naive notion that ‘knowledge will result in action’, neglecting insights from sociological literature that shows structural barriers to young people's political participation and the displacement of electoral politics by new hybrid and creative forms of participation.

Political Participation as Public Pedagogy--The Educational Situation in Young People's Political Conversations in Social Media.

In this article we argue that young people’s political participation in the social media can be considered ‘public pedagogy’. The argument builds on a previous empirical analysis of a Swedish net c ...

PFI and the Performative Politics of Dissent: Lessons for Democratic Education

This article reports on an instance of direct political action undertaken in the form of a boycott of a school canteen. The action was staged by students at the school, following redevelopment through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) project. The young people's experiences of the boycott and its impact on their learning were analysed in the context of a larger, interpretative study exploring the relationships between democratic education and the arts. The research offers some important insights into the nature of young people's political engagement and suggests some important implications for democratic education. Specifically it indicates that – at least in the case of the participants in this study – young people are not politically disengaged but are rather differently engaged, and that such engagement can act as an important resource within a critical approach to democratic education.

Standby citizens: diverse faces of political passivity

The current debate on political participation is bound to a discussion about whether citizens are active or passive. This dichotomous notion is nurtured by an extensive normative debate concerning whether passivity is an asset or a threat to democracy; and it is especially manifest in studies of young people's political orientations. Drawing on this discussion, the present study goes beyond the dichotomy by keeping political interest conceptually separate from participation in order to improve our understanding of political passivity. Multivariate cluster analysis of empirical data on Swedish youth suggests that we need to consider three distinctive forms of ‘political passivity’. In the paper we present empirical evidence not only of the existence of a particular ‘standby citizen’, but also of two kinds of genuinely passive young people: unengaged and disillusioned citizens. Alongside active citizens, these people are in distinctly different categories with regard to their political behavior. This entails a new analytical framework that may be used to analyze an empirical phenomenon that has received surprisingly little attention in the literature on political participation and civic engagement.

The Child-Body-Politic: Afterword on ‘Children and Young People's Politics in Everyday Life’

The phrase ‘body-politic’ is often deployed to mean all of the people comprising a given ‘political’ unit, perhaps a country, nation or state, and sometimes conceived as the multitudes ruled over b...

Children and Young People's Politics in Everyday Life

This Special Issue presents a decennial follow-up to the Space and Polity 2003 Special Issue ‘Political geographies of children and young people’, edited by Chris Philo and Fiona M. Smith. The foll...