Becoming Change Agents: Comparing Youth Organizers and Youth Commissioners

• In Event: 65.080 - Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 65.080-13 - Organizing for Educational Justice

Abstract

Recently, different types of organizations have emerged to help support youth in assuming roles as civic actors and change agents. Drawing on in-depth individual interviews with 35 youth in one major urban center, this study compares how participation in differently positioned political activities influences participants’ sociopolitical identities and their views of the most effective mechanisms for social change. Specifically, this research compares youth involved in a government sanctioned Youth Commission, developed to advise policymakers, with youth involved in a community-based youth organizing group, focused on educational reform. The study considers the extent to which being positioned as a systems-insider versus a systems-outsider shapes participants’ civic commitments, sense of civic or political efficacy, and beliefs about the process of social change.

Authors

• Jerusha Osberg Conner, Villanova University

• Katie Cosner, Villanova University