Youth Democratic Political Identity and Disaffection: Active Citizenship and Participation to Counteract Populism and Polarization in Barcelona

Globally, youth satisfaction with democracy is declining—not only in absolute terms, but also relative to how older generations felt at the same stage in their lives. Young people’s democratic political identity is lower than any other age group. One can point to concrete factors to explain such dec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Societies (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2023-11, Vol.13 (12), p.245
Main Authors: Essomba, Miquel Àngel, Nadeu, Maria, Tarrés, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age groups
Black Lives Matter movement
Citizenship
civic engagement
Corruption
Data collection
Data entry
Data quality
Democracy
democratic citizenship
Democratization
Demonstrations & protests
Demonstrations and protests
Discontent
Identity politics
Institutionalization
Living conditions
Pandemics
Participation
Polarization
Polarization (Social sciences)
Political activity
Political aspects
Political behavior
Political identity
Political parties
Political systems
Politics
Populism
Poverty
Satisfaction
Social activism
Social aspects
Social networks
Spain
Teenagers
Unemployment
United Kingdom
Young adults
Youth
Youth employment
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Summary:Globally, youth satisfaction with democracy is declining—not only in absolute terms, but also relative to how older generations felt at the same stage in their lives. Young people’s democratic political identity is lower than any other age group. One can point to concrete factors to explain such declines—ranging from the growth of youth unemployment to the persistence of corruption and poverty in new democracies. Growing discontent with living conditions is taken advantage of by populist leaders. This populist rule—whether from the right or the left—has a highly negative effect on democratic political identities (especially on youth) and can lead to a significant risk of democratic erosion. Our research aims to explore the significance of youth identification with democracy, and their participation approaches as an alternative to the decline in democratic quality in Barcelona, Spain. Using quantitative data collection and analysis, in this article we present the first results of our research and suggest a path for further investigation.
ISSN:2075-4698
2075-4698
DOI:10.3390/soc13120245