Rethinking Youth Movements: Expanding Mannheim’s Generation Theory for Youth Identity Movements

• In Event: 20861 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1: Collective Identity and Solidarity

Abstract

Traditional analyses of youth movements often reduce “youth” to mere age or life stage, ignoring the active politicization of youth identity. This paper reconceptualizes these mobilizations as “youth-identity movements,” arguing that youth is not simply a demographic category but a politically constructed identity. Using post-2010 South Korean youth governance movements as a case study, the study demonstrates how these mobilizations recast youth as both a symbolic resource and a political claim, thereby extending Karl Mannheim’s generation theory within social movement contexts.
While Mannheim’s theory links shared historical experiences to generational consciousness, it tends to treat youth as a fixed category. This research challenges that assumption by showing how youth activists strategically mobilize their identity to address contemporary challenges. By reframing their struggles as uniquely generational, activists transform structural disadvantages—such as economic precarity, extended education, and labor insecurity—into political assets.
Employing an abductive methodology that combines ethnographic fieldwork with 45 in-depth interviews of youth organizers, union leaders, and policymakers, the study analyzes prominent South Korean organizations like the Youth Community Union and the Minsnail Union. These groups initially focused on specific issues, such as labor rights and housing insecurity, but later expanded their agendas by linking these challenges to youth identity. Their engagement with institutional networks, notably the Seoul Youth Policy Network, further legitimized their efforts and influenced national policy frameworks, including the 2020 Framework Act on Youth.
In sum, the paper makes two significant contributions. First, it introduces a theoretical framework that distinguishes youth-identity movements from conventional youth activism. Second, it refines Mannheim’s generation theory by integrating the dynamic process of identity politicization. Ultimately, this study redefines youth mobilization as a transformative political force, inviting scholars to reconsider the interplay between identity, structural disadvantage, and political agency.

Author

• Eunchong Cho, University of California-San Diego