Non-conventional/illegal political participation of male and female youths

Abstract

Belgian data from the PIDOP project show that boys are more involved than girls in illegal political actions, namely the production of graffiti and other acts of "incivility". These activities must be considered in both groups as complementary to conventional political and social participation and not as their opposite. The main explanatory factor is the level of the perceived efficaciousness of such actions. The lack of trust in institutions and the level of awareness of societal discrimination play no significant explanatory role. In males, the involvement level in these activities depends on feelings of personal discrimination and on the lack of freedom concerning individual choice, confirming the theory of societal vulnerability and Honneth's theory of recognition. This level also increases along with increasing opportunities to make acquaintances and have fun in the neighbourhood. In females, this involvement is explained by the distance with regard to pro-sociality level.Key words: Belgium; youth; non-conventional political participation; theory of societal vulnerability; Honneth's theory of recognition; gender theory Studies of political participation have traditionally distinguished between conventional and non-conventional, and legal and illegal modes of participation (John, Fieldhouse and Liu 2011). Data collected as part of the PIDOP project provide an opportunity to identify non-conventional/illegal political actions among young people, actions such as writing messages or graffiti with a political message on walls or participating in radical actions such as burning flags, etc. The aim of this paper is to shed more light on the individual factors which could explain such actions among male and female adolescents. Three hypotheses are tested in this paper. Firstly, that these actions are linked to conventional forms of political and social activities; secondly, that they ensue from concrete life experiences; thirdly, to establish the impact of gendered socialisation and expectations on the probability of non-conventional/ illegal political actions but also on the dynamics of explanatory factors.Can non-conventional political participation be explained by the theories of societal vulnerability and recognition?According to the theory of societal vulnerability (Vettenburg, Walgrave and Van Kerkhove 1984;Walgrave 1992), the most disadvantaged young people behave in a most

Beyond the limits: involvement in illegal political activities

“…Previous research shows that legal political activities are not regarded as sufficiently effective by all the young people who try to exert political influence. Accordingly, some also include illegal political means in their political repertoire (Cameron and Nickerson, 2009;Enosh, 2010Enosh, [2008Enosh, /2009; Gavray et al, 2012). In this study, we used a sample of 1557 Swedish adolescents in an attempt further to understand what is characteristic of adolescent activists who cross the legal-illegal border.…”

“…Adolescents’ involvement in delinquency can be understood as reflecting frustration due to the lack of autonomy. In order to gain some autonomy, some adolescents challenge the societal authorities by ‘rebelling against institutions they feel display unfairness and aggressiveness, even though this rebellion does not necessarily reveal an efficient and definitive solution’ (Gavray et al ., 2012: 406). We asked about cases of shoplifting, arrest, property destruction, carrying weapons, threatening others, and skipping payment on buses or at the movies.…”

“…Some young people in today’s Western democracies are politically active. Among them, a few adopt political means that go beyond what is legal in order to try to exert influence on decision making (Oswald and Schmid, 1998; Cameron and Nickerson, 2009; Gavray et al , 2012). Preferences for, and involvement in, illegal political activities seem to peak in mid-adolescence (at ages 15–16), with a continuous decline thereafter (Watts, 1999).…”

“…However, when it comes to illegal political activities, there is a lack of solid empirical evidence for this hypothesis. Some studies claim that illegal political activities are not associated with political interest (Oswald and Schmid, 1998; Watts, 1999; Gavray et al , 2012), whereas others report that political interest is a factor underlying political activities in general, regardless of whether they are legal or illegal (e.g., Schmid, 2012; Dahl, 2014).…”

Explaining Violent Extremism for Subgroups by Gender and Immigrant Background, Using SAT as a Framework

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