Not Your Parents’ Politics: Understanding Young People’s Political Expression on Social Media

Social media has become a key space for young people to experiment with their political voice and to hone it through interaction with others. However, authors Neta Kligler-Vilenchik and Ioana Literat argue that in order to seriously consider social media as a space for youth political expression, we need to put aside conventional expectations about the forms that political expression should take. According to longstanding criteria for evaluating good citizens, political expression should be serious, focused on facts and rationality, and detached and objective. By contrast, the authors uncover political expression that is humoristic or cynical, colorful, and frequently infused with popular culture references. It is deeply emotional and often profoundly personal. If we look at this political speech through traditional lenses, we may not only miss it, but misunderstand young people’s relationship to politics.

Grounded in empirical research on three case studies of youth political expression on three different social media sites, Not Your Parents’ Politics offers insights into the varied ways young people engage with political issues on the social media platforms most popular with youth audiences. On a theoretical level, the book offers a conceptual framework for analyzing how different platforms shape political expression through the interaction between their affordances, norms, and contents. This empirical and theoretically-based investigation sets the stage for a normative discussion, asking how the forms of expressive citizenship identified throughout the book might bolster-or hinder-democratic engagement. Ultimately, the book considers what it means to take youth political expression on social media seriously, and what the stakes are for political socialization and democratic participation.

Neta Kligler-Vilenchik is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She studies political expression in the new media environment, with a focus on young people and is a co-author of the book ＂By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism.＂ Her work has been published in leading communication journals, including Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Information, Communication & Society and Political Communication. Her work has received several academic awards and recognitions, and has also been covered by the press, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Ioana Literat is Associate Professor in the Communication, Media & Learning Technologies Design program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research examines youth online participation, with a particular focus on the intersection of civic and creative practices in online contexts. Her work has been published in the Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Communication Theory, and Information, Communication & Society, among others. She is a frequent contributor on youth and social media topics in the press, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek, The Atlantic, CNN and Wired.