Multiple Exclusions: Civic and Political Disengagement of Vulnerable Youth in the European Union

Abstract

Declining levels of youth participation in conventional politics raise concerns about the future of representative democracies. Based on statistical analyses of public opinion survey data, this paper examines youth civic and political disengagement as symptoms of social exclusion. Our findings point out that youth are a heterogeneous group and vulnerable young people living in the European Union face the risk of multiple exclusions that mutually reinforce each other: from the labor market, from education and from the democratic life of their societies. Thus, youth who are neither in education, nor in employment or training (NEET) tend to be the most politically marginalized group of young people in European democracies. Acknowledging the interplay between various dimensions of youth social exclusion provides valuable theoretical, methodological and policy insights for reducing youth marginalization and breaking the vicious circle that perpetuates it.