Engagement Changes without Disappearing.

The paper analyses the change in participation among young Italians. The first aim is to verify whether the trends in Europe are confirmed: the growth of civic engagement and disaffection for politics (Barret, Pachi 2019). The second is to explore the forms of civic engagement. A reprocessing of secondary data derived from two multidimensional Istat surveys from 2013 and 2022 described two demographic cohorts of young people (20-30 years old).

The analysis assumes that a different “generational placement” (Mannheim 2000, Chisholm 2002, Merico 2019) distinguishes these two cohorts: young people in 2022 have experienced COVID-19, lockdown, and war in Ukraine, for example.

Second, the profiles of the participatory style that characterize and distinguish the two generations. The results will confirm a withdrawal from political activism and a simultaneous increase in commitment to volunteering activities.

The second aim is to describe the characteristics of this form of engagement. A visual sociology method will detect the behaviors of three youth groups involved in social love activities. Through semi-structured interviews and images that describe the initiatives, the description tries to identify if the prosocial and inclusion actions remain within a traditional channel or highlight elements of innovation. These limited experiences are signs that express forms of resilience.

References

Barret and Pachi (2019), Youth Civic and Political Engagement, Routledge Taylor & Francis, London-New York.

Casavecchia, A. (2022). Youth Participatory Cultures in Italy. Before and After Lockdown. Scuola Democratica, 3, 527-547, doi:10.12828/106015.

Chisholm L. (2002), “Generation of knowledge, knowledge of generations and the generation of knowledge”, in R. Rauty (eds.), Youth, control, citizenship, social reproduction, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, pp. 159-170.

Mannheim, K. (2000). Sociologia della conoscenza, Il Mulino, Bologna.

Merico M. (2019), Karl Mannheim. Giovani e generazioni, Meltemi editore, Milano.