Stake in the political: Young people’s condition for political socialization in social media

Abstract

Abstract

This article concerns young people’s political acting on their own terms. With a broad understanding of the political life – the political – and a recognition of space and place as central aspects determining young people’s condition for political socialization, the use of stake in a political conversation between young people is analyzed as an approach to describe and discuss aspects of political socialization in a public room within the social media – the net community. The political conversation within the national net community is shown to be built up and maintained by certain discursive conditions and pressures determining the character of the conversation, as well as the conditions to which you are expected to conform as a participant within this place. The findings indicate that young people’s political conversation – their political acting – in social media could be a new form of political communication with its own unique characteristics, creating conditions for young people’s political socialization.

Keywords: political socialization – the political – social media – space and place – stake