Disengagement or Different Engagement: Social Change and Young People’s Political Participation in Turkey

Sociologically, youth is a distinct social layer within the social structure. As a historical social structure, this phenomenon has always been a controversial issue. One of the most common aspects of this debate is the issue of youth politics. There is widespread concern about the lack of political awareness, political apathy, indifference to politics and lack of participation in the political process among young people. Declining levels of political participation among young people, especially since the early 1980s, have been a source of concern in many countries and in Turkey. It is often argued that the low levels of political participation in elections and general disinterest in politics among young people are part of the 1980s generation, who are apathetic and unconcerned about political issues. The aim of this study is to test these common assumptions and to try to address the following areas: perceptions and levels of participation in politics? Are they indifferent or do they perceive politics differently? What is their level of political participation? How do they perceive current/traditional politics, political elites and political parties? What are their commonly shared political commitments and value systems? And finally, the questions of which political socialization environments and opportunity structures encourage participation were sought. In a sense, the content, frequency, characteristics and participation channels of university youth political participation were investigated and revealed as variables. In this context, the data of the surveys (N=750) conducted in three different universities in Turkey, two public and one private, examining political attitudes, political awareness, levels of participation and participation issues indicate important findings.