Young Generations' Activism in Italy: Comparing Political Engagement and Participation of Native Youths and Youths from
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Young Generations’ Activism in Italy: Comparing Political Engagement and Participation of Native Youths and Youths from a Migrant Background Veronica Riniolo1
•
Livia Elisa Ortensi2
Accepted: 17 June 2020 The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Focusing on individuals aged 14–35 still living with their family of origin, we compare the political activism of Italian natives with their first and second-generation migrant peers. We based our analysis on two different national household surveys, carried out by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) in 2011–2012: the survey ’Condizione e integrazione sociale dei cittadini stranieri’ [Condition and Social Integration of Foreign Citizens] and ’Aspetti della vita quotidiana’ [Multipurpose Survey on the Aspects of Everyday Life]. Our results revealed that natives are more likely to be involved in politics compared to their migrant peers. However, the migrant background is not a factor negatively affecting youth participation or involvement in politics in itself. The gap with native is fully explained by differences in socio-economic background and family political socialisation. When these aspects are controlled, data suggest that no differences exist in participation to most time-consuming acts (such as taking part in political meetings, demonstrations, participation in a political association, etc.). More of it, young people with migrant backgrounds are more likely to be engaged in activities that reflect a general interest in politics, such as discussing politics, seeking information on Italian politics, and listening to political debates, compared to their native counterparts. Keywords Political activism Young generations Second generations Immigrant youths Family political socialisation Migrant background
& Livia Elisa Ortensi [email protected] 1
Department of Sociology, Universita` Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
2
Department of Statistical Sciences ‘‘Paolo Fortunati’’ (STAT), Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Via delle Belle Arti, 41 40126 Bologna, Italy
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V. Riniolo, L. E. Ortensi
1 Introduction Involvement in politics1 is a crucial aspect of subjective well-being and a vital characteristic of a cohesive society (CMEPSP 2009; Frey and Stutzer 2000; Putnam 2000; Pacek and Radcliff 2008; Pacheco and Lange 2010; Eurofound 2018). Equal representation and inclusion through political participation or engagement of all groups of citizens youths, ethnic minorities and all different groups of citizens are crucial for the proper functioning of democracy (Verba and Nie 1972; Putnam 1993; Lijphart 1997; Dahl 2006; Kaldur et al. 2012; Zapata-Barrero and Gropas 2012). For these reasons, the supposed ’eclipse’ of young generations from the political scene (Ricolfi 2002) is a matter of concern and a subject of intense academic and public debate. Despite the rhetoric of an increasing disenchantment of young people from politics, young generations have found new ways to ma
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