Published
Aug 19, 2024Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1529239324Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Aug 19, 2024Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1529239348Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Aug 19, 2024Page count
224 pagesISBN
978-1529239348Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Youth Participation and Democracy
How do young people participate in democratic societies? This book introduces the concept of ‘doing society’ as a new theory of political action. Focused on Finnish youth, it innovatively blends cutting-edge empirical research with agenda-setting theoretical development. Redefining political action, the authors expand beyond traditional public-sphere, scaling from formal to informal and unconventional modes of engaging.
The book captures diverse engagement from memes to social movements, from participatory budgeting to street parties and from sleek politicians to detached people in the margins. In doing so, it provides a holistic view of the ways in which young people participate (or do not participate) in society, and their role in cultural change.
“A pathbreaking study that charts remarkable changes in how young people are engaging in democratic political life. A must-read for its profoundly important lessons for scholarship and activism.” Kathleen Blee, University of Pittsburgh
“An original contribution to understanding youth participation in doing society, through an extended individualism that is caught between the potentialities of new forms of coordination and ubiquitous risks of burnout.” Laura Centemeri, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Eeva Luhtakallio is Professor of Sociology at the University of Helsinki.
Veikko Eranti is Assistant Professor of Urban Sociology at the University of Helsinki.
1. Introduction: Doing Society - Veikko Eranti and Eeva Luhtakallio
2. Institutional Participation: Youth Councils and Participatory Budgeting Fostering Better Citizens - Georg Boldt
3. Aspiring Politicians: From Amateur Engagements to Problem Solving - Veikko Eranti and Eeva Luhtakallio
4. Voicing Ideas: Participation Through E-democracy - Veikko Eranti and Georg Boldt
5. Imagining Alone: The Necessity of the Atomized Self among Stigmatized Youth - Taina Meriluoto and Lotta Junnilainen
6. Online Transgressions: Imageboards and Cultural Practices of Anonymous Citizenship - Tuukka Ylä-Anttila and Veikko Eranti
7. Street Party: Urban Individualism and the Culture of Commitment - Maija Jokela
8. Reluctant Rebels: The New Climate Movement and the Individual Activists - Maija Jokela, Jenni Kettunen and Eeva Luhtakallio
9. Conclusions: Cultures of Doing Society - Eeva Luhtakallio and Veikko Eranti
Appendix: Mixed Distance Methods and Data - Tuukka Ylä- Anttila, Lotta Junnilainen and Taina Meriluoto
