BKHS perspective #1/2021: Young, digital, engaged?

Since the successful mobilisations of Fridays for Future in Germany, the political engagement of young people in this country has once again gained greater attention. For a long time, public debate was dominated by the assumption that young people were disinterested in politics. This is now a thing of the past. In addition to representative participation processes, many young people in Germany are increasingly opting for less institutionalised forms of participation. Instead of joining political parties, for example, they are increasingly taking part in protests. This shows that for many young people there are major differences between online and offline participation. There is a parallel debate about young people and their use of media. In this debate, the assumption persists that ‘young people’ hardly inform themselves and are primarily interested in how they present themselves on social media. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear how closely the two forms – political participation and political information behaviour – are linked. How young people inform themselves about politics – and ultimately position themselves – is directly related to whether they participate online and/or offline.

Based on the statistical analysis of common data sets and their coupling with conducted focus groups, the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung and d|part – Think Tank for Political Participation present the initial findings of our research project on the political information and participation behaviour of young people in Germany. In the BKHS perspective, we create a differentiated picture of young people today.