Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Engaging in the Political World

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Young People's Civic Identity in the Digital Age

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics ((PSYPP))

Abstract

This chapter illustrates civic identity in practice by describing how young people are engaging in and shaping their views of today’s political world in digitally mediated ways. Technology is embedded within each of these areas and themes, and adds nuance to how young people present themselves and gather information about the world around them, and how they see themselves engaging politically. The data demonstrate that young people are building their opinions and voices by paying attention to current events, such as the 2016 United States presidential election, learning from adults in their lives, and recognizing how their views align with political parties. However, young people feel their voices and efficacy are restricted, despite their digitally mediated civic experiences, due to factors like maintaining friendships with people whose views differ from their own, and being told by adults in their lives to “stay out of” politics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Almond, G., & Verba, S. (1963). The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (2008). An Agentic Perspective on Positive Psychology. In S. Lopez (Ed.), Positive Psychology: Expecting the Best in People. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC News. (2014, November 25). Ferguson Protests: What We Know About Michael Brown’s Last Minutes. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from BBC News: US & Canada http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28841715

  • BBC News. (2015, August 10). Ferguson Unrest: From Shooting to Nationwide Protests. Retrieved April 5, 2018, from BBC News: US & Canada http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30193354

  • Black Lives Matter. (2018). Herstory. Retrieved March 27, 2018, from Black Lives Matter https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/herstory/

  • Boulianne, S., & Theocharis, Y. (2018). Young People, Digital Media, and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis of Research. Social Science Computer Review, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • boyd, d. (2009, April 18). Living and Learning with Social Media. Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology. State College, PA: Penn State.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckingham, D. (2013). Beyond Technology: Children’s Learning in the Age of Digital Culture. Cambridge: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J. C. (2011). The Nature of Adolescence (4th ed.). London, England: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collin, P. (2015). Young Citizens and Political Participation in a Digital Society: Addressing the Democratic Disconnect. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlgren, P., & Olsson, T. (2007). Young Activists, Political Horizons and the Internet: Adapting the Net to One’s Purposes. In B. D. Loader (Ed.), Young Citizens in the Digital Age: Political Engagement, Young People and New Media (pp. 68–81). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dassonneville, R., Quintelier, E., Hooghe, M., & Claes, E. (2012). The Relation Between Civic Education and Political Attitudes and Behavior: A Two-year Panel Study Among Belgian Late Adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 16(3), 140–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dias, T. S., & Menezes, I. (2014, June 2). Children and Adolescents as Political Actors: Collective Visions of Politics and Citizenship. Journal of Moral Education, 250–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimitrova, D., Shehata, A., Strömbäck, J., & Nord, L. (2014). The Effects of Digital Media on Political Knowledge and Participation in Election Campaigns: Evidence from Panel Data. Communication Research, 41(1), 95–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finlay, A., Wray-Lake, L., & Flanagan, C. (2010). Civic Engagement During the Transition to Adulthood: Developmental Opportunities and Social Policies at a Critical Juncture. In L. Sherrod, J. Torney-Purta, & C. Flanagan (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth (pp. 277–206). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Galland, O. (2007). Boundless Youth: Stories in the Transition to Adulthood (T. Matthews & P. Hamilton, Trans.). Oxford: The Bardwell Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gil de Zúñiga, H., Copeland, L., & Bimber, B. (2013). Political Consumerism: Civic Engagement and the Social Media Connection. New Media & Society, 16(3), 488–506.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillman, S., & Sofer, E. G. (1978). Children, Adolescents, and Politics: A Selective Review. Cambridge Journal of Education, 8(2–3), 78–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1978). The Presentation of Self to Others. In J. G. Manis & B. N. Meltzer (Eds.), Symbolic Interaction: A Reader in Social Psychology (3rd ed., pp. 234–244). London: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried, J., & Shearer, E. (2017). News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017. Pew Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, D., & Kirshner, B. (2009). Civic Participation and Development Among Urban Adolescents. In J. Youniss & P. Levine (Eds.), Engaging Young People in Civic Life (pp. 102–120). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henn, M., & Foard, N. (2012). Back on the Agenda and Off the Curriculum? Citizenship Education and Young People’s Political Engagement. Teaching Citizenship, 32, 32–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, D., & McAvoy, P. (2015). The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hess, R. D., & Torney-Purta, J. V. (2005). The Development of Political Attitudes in Children. London: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgin, E. (2016, June 27). Educating Youth for Online Civic and Political Dialogue: A Conceptual Framework for the Digital Age. Journal of Digital and Media Literacy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holloway, S. L., & Valentine, G. (2003). Cyberkids: Children in the Information Age. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holt, K., Shehata, A., Strömbäck, J., & Ljungberg, E. (2013). Age and the Effects of News Media Attention and Social Media Use on Political Interest and Participation: Do Social Media Function as Leveller? European Journal of Communication, 28(1), 19–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huckfeldt, R., & Sprague, J. (1995). Citizens, Politics, and Social Communication: Information and Influence in an Election Campaign. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • James, C. (2014). Disconnected: Youth, New Media, and the Ethics Gap. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, J. (2012). Social Media and Persuasion: Crowdsourcing Arguments on Digital Networks. In H. S. Al-Deen & J. A. Hendricks (Eds.), Social Media: Usage and Impact (pp. 23–38). Plymouth, England: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahne, J., Middaugh, E., & Allen, D. (2014). Youth, New Media, and the Rise of Participatory Politics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J. (1997). Virtuous Reality: How America Surrendered Discussion of Moral Values to Opportunists, Nitwits, and Blockheads Like William Bennett. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, J. E., & Rice, R. E. (2002). Syntopia: Access, Civic Involvement, and Social Interaction on the Net. In B. Wellman & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet in Everyday Life (pp. 114–138). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ke, L., & Starkey, H. (2014). Active Citizens, Good Citizens, and Insouciant Bystanders: The Educational Implications of Chinese University Students’ Civic Participation Via Social Networking. London Review of Education, 12(1), 50–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kieffer, C. H. (1984). Citizen Empowerment: A Developmental Perspective. Prevention in Human Services, 3(2–3), 9–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kisby, B., & Sloam, J. (2014). Promoting Youth Participation in Democracy: The Role of Higher Education. In A. Mycock & J. Tonge (Eds.), Beyond the Youth Citizenship Commission: Young People and Politics. London: Political Studies Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krueger, B. (2002). Assessing the Potential of Internet Political Participation in the United States: A Resource Approach. American Politics Research, 30, 476–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenhart, A., Duggan, M., Perrin, A., Stepler, R., Rainie, L., & Parker, K. (2015). Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015. Pew Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenhart, A., Madden, M., Smith, A., Purcell, K., Zickhur, K., & Rainie, L. (2011). Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites: How American Teens Navigate the New World of Digital Citizenship. Pew Internet & American Life Project. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, P. (2008). A Public Voice for Youth: The Audience Problem in Digital Media and Civic Education. In W. L. Bennett (Ed.), Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth (pp. 119–138). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linton, A. (2015). Politically Engaged and Alienated Youth: Reevaluating 2010 UK Student Protests. In E. Middaugh & B. Kirshner (Eds.), #youthaction: Becoming Political in the Digital Age (pp. 191–207). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone, S., Couldry, N., & Markham, T. (2007). Youthful Steps Towards Civic Participation: Does the Internet Help? In B. D. Loader (Ed.), Young Citizens in the Digital Age: Political Engagement, Young People and New Media (pp. 21–34). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maddux, J. E., & Gosselin, J. T. (2012). Self-Efficacy. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of Self and Identity (2nd ed., pp. 198–224). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, J. M. (2000). Media and Civic Socialization of Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health (pp. 45–51). Society for Adolescent Medicine.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, J. M., & Shah, D. V. (2009). Communication and Political Socialization: Challenges and Opportunities for Research. Political Communication, 26(1), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nasir, N. S., & Kirshner, B. (2003). The Cultural Construction of Moral and Civic Identities. Applied Developmental Science, 7, 138–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osler, A., & Starkey, H. (2018). Extending the Theory and Practice of Education for Cosmopolitan Citizenship. Educational Review, 70(1), 31–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasek, J., More, E., & Romer, D. (2009). Realizing the Social Internet? Online Social Networking Meets Offline Civic Engagement. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 6(3–4), 197–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickard, S. (2019). Politics, Protest and Young People: Political Participation and Dissent in 21st Century Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Pontes, A., Henn, M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2018). Towards a Conceptualization of Young People’s Political Engagement: A Qualitative Focus Group Study. Societies, 8(1), 17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Print, M. (2007). Citizenship Education and Youth Participation in Democracy. British Journal of Educational Studies, 55, 325–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quan-Haase, A., & boyd, d. (2011). Teen Communities. In G. A. Barnett (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Networks (Vol. 1). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker, B. (1986). Self-Identification: Toward an Integration of the Private and Public Self. In Public Self and Private Self (pp. 21–62). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker, B. (2012). Self-Presentation. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of Self and Identity (2nd ed., pp. 542–570). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Serriere, S. C. (2014). The Role of the Elementary Teacher in Fostering Civic Efficacy. The Social Studies, 105(1), 45–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, D. V., Cho, J., Eveland Jr., W. P., & Kwak, N. (2005). Information and Expression in a Digital Age: Modeling Internet Effects on Civic Participation. Communication Research, 32(5), 531–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, D. V., McLeod, J. M., & Lee, N.-j. (2009). Communication Competence as a Foundation for Civic Competence: Processes of Socialization into Citizenship. Political Communication, 26(1), 102–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shea, D. M., & Green, J. C. (Eds.). (2007). Fountain of Youth: Strategies and Tactics for Mobilizing America’s Young Voters. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherrod, L., Torney-Purta, J., & Flanagan, C. (2010). Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement in Youth. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sloam, J., Ehsan, R., & Henn, M. (2018). ‘Youthquake’: How and Why Young People Reshaped the Political Landscape in 2017. Political Insight, 9(1), 4–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sotirovic, M., & McLeod, J. (2001). Values, Communication Behavior, and Political Participation. Political Communication, 18(3), 273–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stepick, A., Stepick, C., & Labissiere, C. (2008). South Florida’s Immigrant Youth and Civic Engagement. Applied Developmental Science, 12(2), 57–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Towner, T. (2013). All Political Participation is Socially Networked?: New Media and the 2012 Election. Social Science Computer Review, 31(5), 527–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins, S. C. (2009). The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social-Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Julianne K. Viola

Authors
  1. Julianne K. Viola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Viola, J.K. (2020). Engaging in the Political World. In: Young People's Civic Identity in the Digital Age. Palgrave Studies in Young People and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37405-1_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation