scholarly journals Gender differences in civic and political engagement and participation among Italian young people

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Stefani ◽  
Gabriele Prati ◽  
Iana Tzankova ◽  
Elena Ricci ◽  
Cinzia Albanesi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Detailed Picture

A substantial amount of literature has revealed gender gaps in political participation. However, little is known about such gaps when using more comprehensive measures of civic and political participation including online participation. In the present study, we recruited a sample (n = 1792) of young people living in Italy. Controlling for age, majority/minority status, socioeconomic status, respondents’ educational attainment, and parents’ educational attainment, we found that female participants reported higher scores on online and civic participation, while male participants were more likely to report political and activist participation. The effect size for these gender differences was small. In addition, we did not find any gender differences in voting behavior in the last European parliamentary elections, national parliamentary elections, and local elections. These findings highlight the need to move toward a more comprehensive and detailed picture of gender gaps in political engagement and participation including different types of participation.

Gender Differences in Political Engagement and Participation among Italian Young People

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Stefani ◽  
Elena Ricci ◽  
Gabriele Prati ◽  
IANA TZANKOVA ◽  
Cinzia Albanesi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Detailed Picture

A substantial literature has revealed gender gaps in political participation. However, littleis known about such gaps when using more comprehensive measures of conventionaland non-conventional civic and political participation including online participation. In thepresent study, we recruited a sample (n = 1792) of young people living in Italy. Controllingfor age, majority/minority status, socioeconomic status, respondents’ educationalattainment, and parents’ educational attainment, we found that female participantsreported higher scores on online and civic participation, while male participants weremore likely to report political and activist participation. The effect size for these genderdifferences was small. In addition, we did not find any gender differences in votingbehavior in last European parliamentary elections, national parliamentary elections, andlocal elections. These findings highlight the need to move toward a more comprehensiveand detailed picture of gender gaps in political engagement and participation includingdifferent types of participation.

Gender inequalities in political participation and political engagement among young people in Europe: Are young women less politically engaged than young men?

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Grasso ◽  
Katherine Smith
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Young Men ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
Political News ◽  
Current State ◽  
Detailed Picture

This paper contributes to the literature by examining gender inequalities in political participation and political engagement among young people from a comparative perspective. By analyzing data on young people from nine European countries collected in 2018, we examine gender inequalities in participation in various modes of conventional and unconventional activism as well as related attitudes, broader political engagement and key determinants, cross-nationally, in order to provide a detailed picture of the current state of gender inequalities in political activism among young people in Europe. Our results allow us to speak to extant theorizing about gender inequalities by showing that the extent of political inequality between young men and women is less marked than one might expect. While the gender gaps in political participation for activities such as confrontational types of protest are small or absent, we find that young women are actually more active in petitioning, buycotting, and volunteering in the community. Young men instead are more active than young women in a majority of the nine countries analysed with respect to more institutional forms of participation linked to organizations and parties, various types of online political participation, and broader political engagement measures, such as internal political efficacy and consumption of political news through various channels. However, young men also appear to be more sceptical at least of certain aspects of democratic practice relative to young women.

Behind the Popular Narrative: Negotiating Life and Political Engagement in Conflicted Kashmir

2021 ◽  
pp. 232102302110430
Author(s):  
Wahid Ahmad Dar
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
The State ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Popular Narrative ◽  
Political Actions

The article focuses on the subaltern system of micro appropriations or Jugaads used by young Kashmiris to survive within precarious situations inflicted due to armed conflict. More particularly, it argues that such Jugaads are invoked by the subaltern consciousness of Tehreeq-e-Azadi, which offers space for not just the negotiation with the state but also the creative improvisation of daily political actions. It is illustrated that young people’s political participation is entangled with the attempts to overcome the uncertainty around their lives, thereby offering them pragmatic solutions in advancing their interests. It is further elaborated that the existing polarization between separatism and mainstream is obscure at the experiential level, living within precarious situations has taught young people to silently craft possibilities of a good life without looking confrontational to either side. The article argues that localized forms of engagement are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of how modern states operate.

Online youth political engagement and bureaucratization: The Australian Youth Forum

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-781
Author(s):  
Prashanth Pillay
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Youth Participation ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
Youth Policy ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Digital Society ◽  
Online Engagement ◽  
Depth Interviews

Through in-depth interviews with all 10 youth representatives who worked in the Australian Youth Forum (AYF), Australia’s first online government youth forum, this article explains how online engagement was experienced and understood by those who managed its day-to-day operation. While the AYF was decommissioned in 2014, it was the first, and, till date, only online federal initiative that invited young people to run a government-funded youth public forum. Despite its relatively short existence, the AYF provokes questions about the influence of historically entrenched political values on online youth political participation and policy. Findings from this article have uncovered a series of challenges faced by youth in adjusting to government efforts to regulate consultation within the AYF. Building on Collin’s (2015, Young Citizens and Political Participation in a Digital Society: Addressing the Democratic Disconnect. London: Palgrave Macmillan.) observation of a ‘democratic disconnect’ in Australian youth policy, an incompatibility between government expectations of youth political involvement and how young people value participation, this article suggests that the AYF provided key insights into the centralized bureaucratic arrangements that have historically defined Australian youth participation and how they influence youth participatory experiences in online government initiatives.

scholarly journals Information literacy as a tool to support political participation

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (123) ◽  
pp. 14-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren N Smith
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Information Provision ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Potential Tool

Recent political events have raised the profile of information literacy as a potential tool for supporting informed political participation. This article emphasises the importance of supporting political engagement through information provision and information literacy development, drawing on findings from two research projects to discuss what information needs young people have in relation to political engagement and identify some examples of work taking place in Scottish school libraries to help young people develop political knowledge and feel able to participate meaningfully in democratic processes. Some of the main barriers to libraries engaging with this work are also discussed.

scholarly journals Intra-generational inequalities in young people’s political participation in Europe: The impact of social class on youth political engagement

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110317
Author(s):  
Maria Grasso ◽  
Marco Giugni
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Class Background ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Cross National

The declining political engagement of youth is a concern in many European democracies. However, young people are also spearheading protest movements cross-nationally. While there has been research on political inequalities between generations or inter-generational differences, research looking at differences within youth itself, or inequalities between young people from different social backgrounds, particularly from a cross-national perspective, is rare. In this article, we aim to fill this gap in the literature. Using survey data from 2018 on young people aged 18–34 years, we analyse how social class background differentiates groups of young people in their political engagement and activism across nine European countries. We look at social differentiation by social class background for both political participation in a wide variety of political activities including conventional, unconventional, community and online forms of political participation, and at attitudes linked to broader political engagement, to paint a detailed picture of extant inequalities amongst young people from a cross-national perspective. The results clearly show that major class inequalities exist in political participation and broader political engagement among young people across Europe today.

Women and Politics Across Latin America

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Magda Hinojosa ◽  
Miki Caul Kittilson
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Support For Democracy ◽  
Paid Labor ◽  
Democratic Engagement ◽  
The Individual

Chapter 1 presents the puzzle of gender differences in political engagement and support for democracy. Traditional explanations come up short in fully explaining these gender gaps: gender differences in democratic engagement endure for some countries despite women’s increased participation in higher education and in the paid labor force. Much research has focused on gender gaps in voting, giving short shrift to the more puzzling differences in political interest (and related measures of political engagement) and support for democracy. Yet, the latter set of behaviors and motivations are essential to a strong democracy: at the individual level they are essential components of full democratic citizenship, and in the aggregate contribute to equality in the democratic process and to enlightened, inclusive debate. We explain why the Uruguayan case proves an unrivaled laboratory for investigating the effects of women’s gains in politics for changes in mass-level connections to the democratic process.

scholarly journals A polygenic score for educational attainment partially predicts voter turnout

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (50) ◽  
pp. e2022715118
Author(s):  
Christopher T. Dawes ◽  
Aysu Okbay ◽  
Sven Oskarsson ◽  
Aldo Rustichini
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Adoption Studies ◽  
Polygenic Score ◽  
Family Analysis ◽  
Swedish Sample

Twin and adoption studies have shown that individual differences in political participation can be explained, in part, by genetic variation. However, these research designs cannot identify which genes are related to voting or the pathways through which they exert influence, and their conclusions rely on possibly restrictive assumptions. In this study, we use three different US samples and a Swedish sample to test whether genes that have been identified as associated with educational attainment, one of the strongest correlates of political participation, predict self-reported and validated voter turnout. We find that a polygenic score capturing individuals’ genetic propensity to acquire education is significantly related to turnout. The strongest associations we observe are in second-order midterm elections in the United States and European Parliament elections in Sweden, which tend to be viewed as less important by voters, parties, and the media and thus present a more information-poor electoral environment for citizens to navigate. A within-family analysis suggests that individuals’ education-linked genes directly affect their voting behavior, but, for second-order elections, it also reveals evidence of genetic nurture. Finally, a mediation analysis suggests that educational attainment and cognitive ability combine to account for between 41% and 63% of the relationship between the genetic propensity to acquire education and voter turnout.

scholarly journals Young People’s Political Participation in Malaysia During the 1998 Reformasi Era

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Norhafiza Mohd Hed
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Young People ◽  
New Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Socioeconomic Factors ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Regional Trend

This article examines the dynamics of young people’s political participation in Malaysia during the 1998 Reformasi era by focusing its analyses on the patterns of participation and the impacts of the 1998 Reformasi and the 1999 general election on young people’s political engagement.  By using content analysis of secondary data, the findings show that the 1998 Reformasi marked as a turning point that changed political engagement of young people from politically indifferent or disconnected generation to politically engaged citizens, whether in the forms of conventional politics (i.e. voting) or unconventional politics (i.e. protest activism and social movements) whilst failed to replace the existing ruling regime.  This change was closely related to the regional trend, socioeconomic factors and the new media.

scholarly journals Whither slacktivism? Political engagement and social media use in the 2013 Czech Parliamentary elections

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Václav Štětka ◽  
Jaromír Mazák
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Political Expression ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Ordinal Logistic Regression Analysis ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between online political expression and offline forms of political participation in the context of the 2013 Czech Parliamentary elections. It draws on the rapidly growing but still very much inconclusive empirical evidence concerning the use of new media and social network sites in particular for electoral mobilization and social activism, and their impact on more traditional forms of civic and political engagement. The theoretical framework of the paper is inspired by the competing perspectives on the role of social media for democratic participation and civic engagement, the mobilization vs. normalization thesis, as well as by the popular concepts of clicktivism or slacktivism (Morozov, 2009), denouncing online activism for allegedly not being complemented by offline actions and having little or no impact on real-life political processes. With the intention to empirically contribute to these discussions, this study uses data from a cross-sectional survey on a representative sample of the Czech adult population (N=1,653) which was conducted directly following the 2013 Parliamentary elections. The study was driven by the main research question: Is there a link between online political expression during the election campaign and traditional forms of political participation among Czech Facebook users? Furthermore, the analysis examined the relationship between online political participation and a declared political interest, electoral participation and political news consumption. The results obtained from an ordinal logistic regression analysis confirm the existence of a significant positive relationship between the respondents’ level of campaign engagement on Facebook and their political interest, political information seeking as well as traditional (mainly offline) participation activities, including voting.

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