Beyond apathetic or activist youth: 'ordinary' young people and contemporary forms of participation

This article addresses the changing nature of participation for young people.
Our analysis is framed by the fragmentation of traditional institutions and the
increasingly unpredictable nature of life trajectories. As a result, the identifi cation
of a crisis in young people’s engagement has become a recurrent theme in the
literature, alongside a burgeoning interest in new forms of (sub)cultural participatory
practices. We argue that there is further complexity in the reshaping of
participation in times of social change, especially for a broad ‘mainstream’ of young
people who are neither deeply apathetic about politics nor unconventionally
engaged. Drawing on a research project with 970 young Australians, the article
suggests that many young people are disenchanted with political structures that
are unresponsive to their needs and interests, but that they remain interested
in social and political issues and continue to seek recognition from the political
system. At the same time, their participatory practices are not oriented towards
spectacular antistate activism or cultural politics but take the form of informal,
individualized and everyday activities.