Young People and Politics

This work is an examination of the popular
discourse which claims young people are apathetic and
disengaged from politics. It is argued that this discourse
is based upon two faulty conceptual assumptions; firstly,
that youth is a period of linear transition to adulthood,
and secondly, that the discourse applies an unproblematised
notion of politics which has its origin in the eighteenth
century Scottish Enlightenment. The research used in-depth
qualitative interviews to explore the ways in which young
people operating across the political spectrum understand
and practice politics. The findings suggest that the narrow,
liberal model of politics is the hegemonic model of politics
for participants. However, this hegemony is challenged by
participants' own 'political' practices, the collapse of
liberalism's public/private divide under conditions of late
modernity, and an interconnected sense of self. Contrary to
the discourse of apathetic and disengaged youth, the study
identifies a number of ways of understanding and practicing
politics, particularly in light of social processes - such
as individualisation and new social movements - driving
contemporary social change.