Youth Activism As an Existential Choice: Observations from a Qualitative Research in Milan

The article presents the initial findings of a qualitative study conducted in Milan aimed at analyzing new forms of political participation and youth activism. Through a combination of semi-structured interviews and participant observation, we aim to demonstrate how these forms of participation are increasingly characterized by an existential and vocational turn. By integrating literature that has primarily focused on the consequences of the processes of individualization and neoliberalization of social life on biographies and political trajectories, we argue that – in the face of growing loneliness and the expansion of a utilitarian moral framework – young people are increasingly viewing civic and social engagement as the invention of a new “way of life”, capable of fostering social bonds and solidarity. What emerges is a picture in which the instrumental dimensions of political action seems to recede into the background, making way for a conception of politics that emphasizes its ethical dimension and altruistic commitment for social justice, in the awareness of living in a historical period marked by multiple crises and the absence of shared moral meanings.