Towards an Alternative Political Culture: Exploring the Impact of Facebook Use on Youth Political Participation in Morocco

A critical engagement with youth subculture theory in Western contexts suggests that digital political participation as a subculture in opposition to mainstream culture goes beyond what is commonly understood as forms of defiance, resistance, lifestyle difference and digital identity construction. It involves an exploration of the meanings associated with young people' s digital experiences. As the relationship between youth subcultures and their alternative political cultures is under-researched, this study advocates a novel investigation into the reasons behind the remarkable transition to digital activism among Moroccan youth. The aim is to understand the nature of youth's digital experiences and their intentions towards them. Given the specificities of the Moroccan youth context, it could be argued that understanding the dynamics of youth subcultures is crucial to understanding alternative cultures in politics and changing patterns of political participation in the digital age. In this sense, the following critical questions arise: 1. How do young people's political subcultures shape their views and understanding of politics? 2. In other words, to what extent do young people's practices of political participation through the use of digital media explain their inclination towards an alternative political culture? 3. What are the reasons for the phenomenal tendency of 'Moroccan youth to use digital content for a counter-political discourse to have a political impact? In order to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon under study, this study uses semi-structured interviews to qualitatively explore the attitudes of 30 Moroccan university students towards their experiences with the impact of Facebook content on their political activism. The findings of this study have the potential to inform further research on how digital counter-discourse shapes mainstream political discourse.