Emerging Adults' Social Justice Engagement: Motivations, Barriers, and Social Identity

Abstract

This study examines emerging adults’ perceived motivations and barriers to social justice engagement, and how their social identities shape involvement. We conducted in‐depth interviews with service‐learning students (n = 30). Thematic analysis of interview data revealed that participants perceived several motivations and barriers to engagement, including the following: (a) the current political climate, (b) self‐efficacy to make small‐scale changes, (c) social support in action, (d) proximity to the social issue, (e) knowledge of resources, and (f) limited personal resources. Participants also described how their identities shaped engagement such that participants reflected upon their multiple privileged and marginalized identities and how their identities influenced their approach to engaging with a particular social issue. Findings have implications for recruiting and sustaining emerging adults’ involvement in activities aimed at changing social issues.

Black Youth Rising: Understanding Motivations and Challenges in Young Adult Activism

“…Transcripts were cleaned while listening to the audio, followed by open coding to identify general categories within each transcript. Insights from existing activism literature guided the author's investigation of Black youth adults' motivations and challenges related to their participation in activism [20,39,40]. Next, the author conducted another round of coding to group codes into themes, identifying connections and contradictions across the codes, supported by analytic memos [63,64].…”

“…Identity plays a pivotal role in how Black young adults engage in activism [39,40]. Ginwright and James [38] posit that the identities youth hold, and the unique positioning of those identities within systems of privilege and oppression, play a role in how they engage in activism.…”

Interpersonal ethnic–racial discrimination and tobacco products: The moderating role of critical action.

“…CC-CA connects individuals to their community and history and celebrates their identity through collective action, social support, and healing (Guerrero et al, 2021; Hickson et al, 2022; Mosley et al, 2021). CC-CA provides a voice for folks who may have felt unseen and unheard; this level of agency and connectedness with others serves as a protective factor against psychological stressors such as IERD (Hickson et al, 2022; Rivas-Drake et al, 2022).…”

Ethnic-Racial Identity as a Source of Resilience and Resistance in the Context of Racism and Xenophobia

“…A recent study examining emerging adults’ social justice engagement found that although participants were mainly involved in addressing social issues that affected them directly due to a marginalized identity, others acknowledged how certain identities and characteristics afforded them privilege. Moreover, these participants articulated how they leveraged their privilege in decision making spaces to serve as an ally for issues that did not affect them directly (Guerrero et al, 2021). However, some participants also described a tension when navigating their different identities including how they could exert their privileges without silencing the voices that need to be amplified.…”