A Practice-Based Approach to Online Participation: Young People’s Participatory Habitus as a Source of Diverse Online Engagement

Authors

  • Giovanna Mascheroni Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano

Keywords:

young people, Internet, participation, social media, participatory habitus

Abstract

Based on comparative qualitative research with 14- to 25-year-olds in Italy and the UK, this study draws on Bourdieu’s theory of practice and culturalist perspectives on citizenship, and situates participation as a socially embedded, contingent online/offline practice that is shaped by the interrelation between participatory habitus, differential access to resources, and the political context. Young people’s diversity is manifested in their different vocabularies of participation, which include a vocabulary of (a) citizenship orientations, (b) citizenship practices, and (c) digital engagement. Based on vocabularies of participation, 5 participatory habitus were identified: the legitimate, the critical, the alternative, the radical antagonist, and the excluded. Each participatory habitus is produced by different combinations of resources and political experiences, and in turn shapes how young people participate on- and offline.

Author Biography

Giovanna Mascheroni, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano

Giovanna Mascheroni, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer of Sociology of Communication and Culture in the Department of Sociology, Università Cattolica of Milan. She is part of the management team of the EU Kids Online network and MC Member of the COST Action DigiLitEY. From 2012 to 2014 she coordinated the Net Children Go Mobile project. Her work focuses on the social shaping and the social consequences of the internet and mobile media among children and young people, including online risks and opportunities, civic/political participation and digital citizenship.

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Published

2017-10-27

Issue

Section

Articles