Social Media and Youth Sociopolitical Development: A YPAR Study of Self and Community Construction

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Liberatory Research Approaches With Young People: YPAR and Youth Resistance

Abstract

Adolescence is an important time for questioning the social world, defining one’s place in society, developing sociopolitical identities and sense of responsibility to one’s communities. Now more than ever, social media plays a major role in this process. However, the direct relationship between social media and youth sociopolitical development is not widely explored, and relevant scholarship points to an ambivalent relationship. This multi-site case study, which includes a YPAR project, explores the relationship between social media and youth sociopolitical development by qualitatively exploring some of the conflicts, contradictions, and tensions of social media’s role in youth sociopolitical identity development. Key themes include: decentering the self <-> prioritizing personal experience, authentic expression <-> performative activism, and widening community <-> limiting perspectives.

Author

• Angela L. Malorni, Rutgers University