scholarly journals Det politiske generasjonsgapet

2021 ◽  
pp. 337-360
Author(s):  
Johannes Bergh ◽  
Kari Steen-Johnsen ◽  
Guro Ødegård

In the last few years, there has been a rise in political activism among young people across the democratic world. We have seen them protesting against racism and demanding stricter climate policies. This chapter deals with political participation, values and the political agenda of young people in Norway over the last 20 years. Have there been changes over time, perhaps linked to digitalization and globalization, during this period? Have these developments led to a political generation gap between young people, adults and the elderly? Our analyses do indeed reveal an increasing age gap in which young people have different political preferences than persons in the older age groups. While these differences are greater now than at any other point in the last 20 years, they still remain moderate. Young people hold more radical positions on climate policy, they are more liberal concerning immigration, and they are somewhat to the right of the adult population when it comes to economic policy. Voter turnout and other forms of political participation have increased among people under the age of 30. Younger people are more prone to mobilize for political activism on digital platforms through their social networks than people in the older age groups are. Using perspectives from the sociology of generations, we discuss the implications of our findings for the political mobilization of young people in a digital future.

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
John Bynner ◽  
Walter R. Heinz

Youth prospects are related to the possibility of participating in the political process, including political activism, mobilisation, and the internet. The focus is on political education and engagement in use of the internet, exemplified by the impressive, digitalised campaigns launched internationally on such issues as climate change and saving the planet. Young people perceive the political process as mainly online. Political socialisation takes place via social media where the interest in national and European issue is rather limited. Media competence must be developed early and organised as a ‘toolbox’ for dealing with the character of communications. New youth movements like “Fridays for Future”, however, have mobilised youth to participate in the debate about climate change and young people’s voting preferences in national and EU elections and are also addressed.


Author(s):  
Agnieszka Pazderska

This article presents the activity of young adults in the political sphere and its impact on the state of Polish democracy. Young people have a low interest in politics compared to other age groups. The decreasing involvement of young citizens in traditional forms of politics is reflected in lower voter turnout and lower participation in political organisations and parties. This is a consequence of declining trust in public institutions, as well as a feeling of a lack of influence in the political affairs of the state. Nowadays, young people are increasingly turning to alternative forms of civic and political engagement, which include being active on the Internet, signing petitions, or participating in protests and street demonstrations. At the same time, the low level of interest in politics and the decline in political participation of young adults raises questions about the state of Polish democracy. In the future, this may even pose a fundamental threat to the state’s political system.


Author(s):  
G.I. AVTSINOVA ◽  
М.А. BURDA

The article analyzes the features of the current youth policy of the Russian Federation aimed at raising the political culture. Despite the current activities of the government institutions in the field under study, absenteeism, as well as the protest potential of the young people, remains at a fairly high level. In this regard, the government acknowledged the importance of forming a positive image of the state power in the eyes of young people and strengthen its influence in the sphere of forming loyal associations, which is not always positively perceived among the youth. The work focuses on the fact that raising the loyalty of youth organizations is one of the factors of political stability, both in case of internal turbulence and external influence. The authors also focus on the beneficiaries of youth protests. The authors paid special attention to the issue of forming political leadership among the youth and the absence of leaders expressing the opinions of young people in modern Russian politics. At the same time, youth protest as a social phenomenon lack class and in some cases ideological differences. The authors come to the conclusion that despite the steps taken by the government and political parties to involve Russian youth in the political agenda, the young people reject leaders of youth opinion imposed by the authorities, either cultivating nonparticipation in the electoral campagines or demonstrating latent protest voting.


Author(s):  
Patricia Hill Collins

For youth who are Black, Indigenous, female, or poor, coming of age within societies characterized by social inequalities presents special challenges. Yet despite the significance of being young within socially unjust settings, age as a category of analysis remains undertheorized within studies of political activism. This essay therefore draws upon intersectionality and generational analyses as two useful and underutilized approaches for analyzing the political agency of Black youth in the United States with implications for Black youth more globally. Intersectional analyses of race, class, gender, and sexuality as systems of power help explain how and why intersecting oppressions fall more heavily on young people who are multiply disadvantaged within these systems of power. Generational analysis suggests that people who share similar experiences when they are young, especially if such experiences have a direct impact on their lives, develop a generational sensibility that may shape their political consciousness and behavior. Together, intersectionality and generational analyses lay a foundation for examining youth activism as essential to understanding how young people resist intersecting oppressions of racism, heteropatriarchy, class exploitation, and colonialism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-70
Author(s):  
ANTONINA SELEZNEVA ◽  

Purpose of the study. The article is devoted to the analysis of value orientations, forms of civic engagement and political participation of young Russian citizens who consider themselves patriots. In accordance with the conceptual and methodological provisions developed within the framework of the political and psychological approach, the author examines how the cognitive and behavioral components of the personality structure, which determine the patriotic orientation of youth, relate to each other. Research results. Based on an analysis of the data of an all-Russian survey of young people aged 15 to 30, the author comes to the conclusion that young Russian patriots are interested in politics and identify with Russia. They demonstrate a fairly high level of social activity and have a wide repertoire of forms of civic participation and political behavior. They have attitudes towards conventional forms of political participation (primarily electoral). In the system of values of young patriots, the most significant are human rights, peace, order, legality, security, freedom and justice. Young Russian citizens who consider themselves patriots differ in their political values and behavioral orientations from «non-patriots». The author comes to the conclusion that young patriots have a connection between values and behavioral practices of their implementation, which determines their focus on interaction with the state and society. But this is not typical for young people in general. It is noted that in the future, patriotism can become a factor in the serious intragenerational demarcation of young people. Therefore, significant efforts are required from various institutions of socialization in the field of political education and patriotic education of youth.


Author(s):  
Adam Kadziela

The article complements the methodological discussions with issues related to the participation of young people in social research. The scientific purpose of the article is to analyze, indicate the features and stages of the research process, methods and scope of research in the context of available research on the political participation of young Poles. The subject of the analysis is also the research project “Determinants of the electoral participation of young Poles in 2019” carried out in September 2019.


Author(s):  
Francesca R. Jensenius

Chapter 6 examines changes in political participation among voters, focusing on a key indicator in the study of democracies: electoral turnout. Data on state election outcomes between 1974 and 2007 show that turnout plummeted in the first election after constituencies became reserved in the 1970s. Gradually, there was a narrowing gap in voter turnout between SC-reserved and nonreserved constituencies, but after more than 30 years there was still a difference of several percentage points. Exploring the reasons, the chapter shows that this variation in political participation it was not mainly due to caste bias, or feelings of being disempowered, but rather because of the weaker networks and mobilizational capacity of SC politicians. As the political experience and mobilizational capacity of SC politicians has increased, so has voter turnout.


2008 ◽  
Vol 53 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
J. Cmejrek

The Velvet Revolution in November 1989 in the former Czechoslovakia opened the way to the renewal of the democratic political system. One of the most visible aspects of the Czech political development consisted in the renewal of the essential functions of elections and political parties. On the local level, however, the political process - as well as in other post-communist countries - continued to be for a long time influenced by the remains of the former centralized system wherein the local administration used to be subjected to the central state power. Municipal elections took hold in these countries, however, the local government remained in the embryonic state and a certain absence of real political and economic decision-making mechanism on the local level continued to show. The public administration in the Czech Republic had to deal with the changes in the administrative division of the state, the split of the Czechoslovak federation as well as the fragmentation of municipalities whose number increased by 50 percent. Decision making mechanisms on the local and regional level were suffering from the incomplete territorial hierarchy of public administration and from the unclear division of power between the state administration and local administration bodies. Only at the end of the 1990s, the public administration in the Czech Republic started to get a more integrated and specific shape. Citizens participation in the political process represents one of the key issues of representative democracy. The contemporary democracy has to face the decrease in voter turnout and the low interest of citizens to assume responsibility within the political process. The spread of democratising process following the fall of the iron curtain should not overshadow the risk of internal weakness of democracy. The solution should be looked for in more responsible citizenship and citizens’ political participation. The degree of political participation is considered (together with political pluralism) to be the key element of representative democracy in general terms, as well as of democratic process on the local and regional level. The objective of this paper is to describe the specifics of citizens local political participation in the Czech Republic and to show the differences between rural and urban areas. The paper concentrates on voting and voter turnout but deals also with other forms of citizens political participation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (43) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Fedorkov

The development of civil society in Ukraine requires an active political position on the part of all subjects of public relations; active creative and positive orientation of actions. The basis of this process is political activity and political participation. The problem of studying the political activity of young people - from 18 to 35 years old - is especially relevant. In this regard, it is important to highlight the socio-psychological factors of active political activity, and especially the individual psychological characteristics and psychological characteristics of the microenvironment. As an object of the article, the realities of the political and socio-cultural life of the West in the 1960s and 1970s, when these factors were manifested against the background of the general activity of the youth of the West, were summarized. It is the political activity and participation of young people in various movements and associations that have determined the configuration of political and social processes. Then came the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the USSR, and this story became a general activity of the world's youth, including the youth of Ukraine. Retrospection and historiography make it possible to assess the place of psychology, political psychology in the study of these processes. Psychological science has been enriched with such achievements that they can be used as an example of solving broader problems - as a study of the phenomenon of political and socio-cultural participation of young people in solving urgent everyday problems, especially in modern crises and challenges. Keywords: psychology, political psychology, political activity and political participation, the West in the 1960s and 1970s.


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