“Hade de globala utsläppen minskat om jag står ute och ropar på gatan?” - En intervjuundersökning om högutbildade ungas uppfattningar och känslor kring politiskt engagemang

Sammanfattning

Political participation is in global decline and especially young citizens are called out for their low levels of participation. Simultaneously new political trends are emerging among today’s youths, one of them being engagement via social media. To further understand these developments, this thesis investigates high-educated youths’ perceptions of and feelings toward political engagement, including digital activities. Furthermore, the respondents are differentiated by field of study in order to observe the occurrence of different views in accordance with educational discipline. Guided by a wide conceptualisation of engagement and theories of participation, in-depth interviews were conducted with Lund University students. With application of a content analysis, the results reveal that a majority of the respondents have a broad understanding of political engagement, yet are critical toward the actual effects of several participation forms. Additionally many respondents feel a lack of ability to influence politics and overall perceive several obstacles in regards to their political participation, including digital engagement. The differences between fields of study concern the view on other youths’ and future participation, however more similarities than divergences are observed. These results shed light on perceptions surrounding participation and bring insight into how the phenomenon can be further understood and explored.