Another Brick in the Wall? Young people, Protest and Nonprotest Claims Making in Nine European Countries

The implementation of austerity and neoliberal policies has disrupted everyday life for a significant number of Europeans, especially among young people. Rising tuition fees, labor market reforms, levels of unemployment, precarious working conditions, and discontent toward the political status quo have contributed to increase moral panics and outrage, which have often triggered mass protests. This article analyses whether and to what extent young Europeans express their demands via protest claims across nine European countries (N = 4,525). We argue that examining political (institutional and discursive) opportunities and claims’ attributes (such as actors, issues, targets) is important to understand whether a youth-related claim takes a protest form or not.The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors received financial support from the EURYKA (‘Reinventing Democracy in Europe: Youth Doing Politics in Times of Increasing Inequalities’) research project. This project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 727025