Youth abstention: the multidimensional refractoriness at the ballot box

Building on Coleman’s (1990) rational choice framework, this contribution advances a methodological proposal for studying the generative mechanisms of youth electoral abstention, conceived both as an indicator of today’s democratic crisis and as a denial of young people’s political dignity (Fukuyama, 2018). From this perspective, younger cohorts of electors are understood as generationally distinct discursive formations (Aboim & Vasconcelos, 2014). This proposal addresses key gaps in the literature: investigate the multifactorial nature of abstention’s generative mechanism through a mixed-methods approach; fostering conceptual convergence with young people on what counts as political; and enriching models by examining deviant cases. Youth abstention is conceptualised as behaviour co-shaped by three dimensions: (i) individual cognitive and emotional factors, (ii) processes of political socialisation, and (iii) available resources. Understanding individual mechanisms enables trace structural influences on (non-)voting and interpreting youth abstention as a systemic phenomenon. The interplay of these dimensions is analysed to identify different types of youth abstention. Accordingly, the methodological approach takes the form of a survey research design, integrated in its pilot phase, pre-testing, and deviant case analysis with qualitative tools, in line with the Columbia School tradition (Lazarsfeld, 1944; Merton & Kendall, 1946). The overall design is flexible and context-sensitive, allowing adaptation across diverse (inter)national settings.