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Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality Among Millennials

Fri, August 31, 12:00 to 1:30pm, Hynes, 209

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Millennials are increasingly skeptical and untrusting of our democratic systems, political officials, and government (Volpe, 2014). They are also the largest and most diverse generation in the United States and young adults are engaging and thinking about politics in unique ways that differ from other cohorts. This panel is crafted to present a variety of papers that empirically grapple with the many discontents young adults are facing today, such as growing economic inequality, racism, violence, and political alienation. These discontents shape and inform how young adults adopt political ideologies, perspectives, and behaviors. Each paper in this panel delves deeper into these discontents and specifically the topics focus on (1) extent to which inequalities in wealth affect young adult political participation over time, (2) how experiences with the carceral state and racism shape youth behaviors to support social movements, (3) how white youth understand inequality and how these opinions affect their racial attitudes, and (4) how the distribution of resources and opportunities in urban cities affect young adults’ political and economic opportunities across race, ethnicity, and economic status.

The papers in this panel employ different methodological approaches to investigate how young adults experience inequality differently based on their varying social, economic, and political positions. As such, this panel aims to complicate how political scientists understand millennial engagement in politics and how this engagement both differs by income, race, and ethnicity, in a way that reveals new perspectives of American democracy.

Citation:
Volpe, D.J. (2014) Key Findings and Insights from our survey of Young American’s Attitudes Toward Politics and Public Service. Institute of Politics Report, Harvard University, MA.

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