Youth Agency/Activism: The Hidden Outcome

As an outcome of political socialization, political activity is dependent on a wealth of factors. Gender, educational factors, location, religion, education, and local/global socio-political landscape all influence individuals’ political activity. According to McFarland and Thomas (2006), youth’s extracurricular activities can influence later political activity. This is one example of political socialization having a significant effect on political activity, as extracurricular activities are part of youth political socialization within the educational and peer interaction sphere. In addition, political activity takes different forms among youth, such as writing in journals, coordinating community activities, and protesting or rallying. This chapter discusses the political activity of youth as an agent of their political socialization. For youth living in conflicted regions, political activity as a result of political socialization can be demonstrated as resistance, activism, and solidarity, as is clear from the narratives of Palestinian youth. Thus, much of the political activity of the Palestinian youth is a direct response to the Israeli occupation. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.