Keeping the Gate: The Role of Party Youth Wings in Political Inequality in Scandinavia

• In Event: 4322 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. The Political Sociology of Parties

Abstract

As the population of democratic countries become more ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse, for their governments to be representative there must be increasing numbers of migrant-origin minorities within the electoral system. This study aims to examine a step in the production of political (in)equality across native/migrant groups: how young people become involved in party-affiliated youth groups, and how their recruitment processes are related to minority representation in those groups.

To date, very few studies have been conducted on the role of youth wings in generating political inequality. This study uses surveys of members of youth wings in Denmark and Sweden, where those groups are institutionalized conduits into party politics. By teaching useful skills and providing experience and networking opportunities, the members of these groups groom prospective electoral candidates and, as such, are influential gatekeepers of future access to political power among citizens.

Several hundred active members of youth wings answered questions about their groups' recruitment practices, and on their own attitudes towards immigration. Danish and Swedish respondents differ both in attitudes and in practice, in line with the more restrictive migration policies in Denmark relative to Sweden. Swedes report more pro-immigration attitudes and are more likely to say that their group puts effort into recruiting minorities than to Danes. Members of left-wing youth groups most often try to recruit migrant minorities (and have the most diverse memberships). Overall, migrant-origin youth are underrepresented in the landscape of Danish and Swedish youth wings. Recruitment strategies involving Facebook networks and offline familial and social networks may contribute to this. Taken as a whole, unequal youth wing participation does not bode well for access to political power, and equal representation in electoral politics, for immigrants and the second generation.

Author

• Saul Thorkelson, Princeton University