Subverting Precarity: Youth Tactics for Overcoming Barriers to Political Engagement

Most studies of political sociology show that socioeconomic precariousness leads to lower rates of political participation (Verba et al., 1995; Schlozman et al., 2012), also among younger people (García-Albacete et al., 2015; García-Albacete and Lorente, 2019). In this paper, we study the other side of the coin: how young citizens who suffer from precarious socioeconomic situations develop strategies that surmount -at least in part- their difficulties to have an active role. Departing from the inductive analysis of twenty-eight interviews with Spanish young activists, we open the black box of the concept of biographical availability (McAdam, 1986), to show how different approaches are developed at the individual and collective level, and across symbolic and relational dimensions. Four main strategies are identified: a) the personal conciliation model; b) the professional realization option; c) the mutual help scheme; and d) the symbolic recognition process. Furthermore, the conditions and contexts where the various arrangements appear are examined. In this respect, we argue that organizations both in terms of functioning, as well as in their very content, continue to play a crucial role in stimulating the inclusion of people with less access to politics.