The word âparticipationâ identifies a complex set of relationships between individuals and society, and it has two main semantic meanings: on the one hand, it means âbeing partâ, and on the other, it can be interpreted as âtaking partâ (Cotta 1979).
In the first case, participation concerns the incorporation of an individual in the life of a socio-political solidarity (a society, a community, a group) as a legitimate member and implies the recognition and acquisition of a status defined by a set of specific duties and rights (Sartori 1984). In this situation, participation has to do with membership and belonging.
In the second case, participation is intended as the active involvement of an individual in the processes of decision-making concerning a given socio-political solidarity and corresponds to active engagement (Kymlicka and Norman 1994).
Without dismissing the interactive dynamic of mutual influence of the two meanings of the term, this book is specifically concerned with participation as referring to âtaking partâ and it looks at the ways in which young people âtake partâ in the life of the communities they belong to, through unconventional political practices of participation (Barnes and Kaase 1979).
As we are going to discuss in the following chapter, the concept of unconventional political engagement is used in literature to refer to a variety of political practices broadly distinguished by their innovative , heterodox, and/or non-institutionalised nature and which are often interpreted as forms of protest . The concept is commonly applied in reference to actions ranging from demonstrations to boycotting, from squatting to engaging in social movements , and much confusion seems to exist around what âunconventionalâ really means.
However, when it comes to the analysis of the relationship between young people and participation, most Western studies on political youth engagement agree on highlighting a steady preference of youths for unconventional practices of engagement ahead of a well-documented decrease of interest in conventional ways of political involvement (Pickard and Bessant 2018). Since the 1960s, an elective youth affinity for unconventional practices has started to be taken for granted, and the idea that young generations are ânaturallyâ inclined to engage through non-conventional forms of participation has become a âmantraâ in sociological and political science studies (Dalton 2008).
This analysis does not aim at contradicting this idea, which is largely supported by analyses and researches, but seeks to delve into the relationship between young people and unconventional participation in contemporary society, looking more closely at the forms and meanings that this ânatural elective affinityâ takes in contemporary society.
The distinctiveness of the approach proposed in this book comprises the choice to focus attention on the connections between unconventional participation and youth conditions in contemporary society, using different case studies to explore for what, how, and why todayâs young people choose certain means of engagement. In so doing, the book seeks to bring back the specificities of contemporary youth at the centre of the analysis of unconventional practices of participation, highlighting their often overlooked socio-historical and generational situatedness .
Being aware that the discussed findings tell only the story of an active minority of young people who decide to engage using these practices (Marien et al. 2010), the book explores what the conditions of contemporary youth say about the unconventional participation of todayâs youths and what youth unconventional participation tells us about contemporary youth conditions. In so doing, this volume seeks to contribute to the existing knowledge of contemporary young generationsâ involvement in the public sphere.
The structure of the book combines a robust theoretical analysis with an extensive presentation of findings emerging from qualitative research conducted on different experiences of youth unconventional political participation.
In particular, Chap. 2 presents a reflection on the concept of unconventional political participation, aimed at exploring the different ways through which âunconventionality â has been interpreted in academic literature. In so doing, the chapter argues how literature on unconventional engagement tends to adopt either âpuristâ definitions (which do not account for emerging forms of unconventional participation) or âtoo vagueâ positions (which apply the adjective âunconventionalâ to almost every participatory action beyond voting ). At the same time, the need to clarify on what basis an action can be defined as âunconventionalâ is argued, looking at the relevance and limits of those understandings where the word âunconventionalâ corresponds to ânewâ, âheterodoxâ, ânon-institutionalised ,â or coincides with âprotestâ.
Chapter 3 specifies the bookâs analytical perspective, discussing the need to look at the aims, forms, and meanings that unconventional political participation acquires in the light of the contemporary youth conditions. In consideration of this aim, the chapter looks at the association between youthfulness and unconventionality , exploring the relevance and limits of the explanations based on a life-course perspective and discussing why and how a generational approach of analysis is applied in the present study. An interpretation of contemporary youthâs âgenerational location â (Mannheim 1928) in terms of a process of social âperipheralisationâ of youth is proposed.
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 present the stories of three experiences of unconventional political youth participation: a bottom -up politicisation of a neighbourhood started by a group of young Swedish people in an attempt to confront problems of access to housing and urban marginalisation ; a squatted building transformed in a self-managed social centre by a group of Italian activists dealing with the occupational and existential uncertainties generated by the economic crisis ; and a community centre opened by a group of young Italian ultras to overcome the social stigma that portrays them as âjust hooligans and vandalsâ.
The case studies were conducted between 2015 and 2017, within the framework of two European research projects financed by the European Commissionâs Horizon 2020 funding scheme: the project Youthblocs 1âfocused on the involvement of young people in âradicalâ forms of unconventional political participation in Italy and Sweden , and on the influence of intergenerational relationships on the paths of youthâs political involvementâand the project Partispace 2âthat analyses the spaces and styles of youth participation in eight European cities.
Each case study was conducted using participant observation and biographical interviews , and intends to exemplify a possible combination between a given problematic youth subject (such as problems in getting access to housing , employment difficulties, social stigmatisation , and marginalisation ) and the use of unconventional political practices to find a solution to that condition while engaging with issues which are relevant to the community.
In the analysis of each of the case studies, attention will be paid at (a) the goals young people seek to reach through unconventional forms of participation, (b) the specific practices through which these goals are achieved, and (c) the reasons why forms of unconventional engagement are preferred to conventional practices and ways of participation.
Through an extensive presentation of the three case studies, the book aims, first and foremost, to give visibility to the stories of participation of the young people who have being involved in this research, bringing back their efforts and their voices at the centre of the attention. On a second level, the book seeks to highlight how contemporary young people are changing unconventional political participation, underlining a series of general transformations emerging in the way they use these practices of engagement. Although each case study is embedded in a specific local and social context, the collected stories are considered as exemplificative of transferable dynamics con...