Trading politics for protest: youth participation in electoral politics, volunteering, and social movement activities from 1976-2009

Political pundits have routinely held that youth civic engagement has declined since the 1960s and 1970s student movement, while academics have offered no consensus on the issue. This paper analyzes data from 1976-2009 on youth participation in three forms of civic engagement: participation in electoral politics, social movement activities, and volunteering. Additional analysis considers the influence of sociodemographic factors on participation in each of these activities as well as whether the influence of sociodemographic characteristics changes over time. My findings provide evidence that electoral participation has decreased over the time period while volunteering and social movement activity participation has increased. Across all models, I find that individuals from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and whites participate to a greater extent, and the influence of these factors changes over time.Master of Art