YOUNG PEOPLE AND POLITICS IN ITALY IN TIMES OF POPULISM

In most Western political systems faced with the challenge of anti-establishment or populist parties, age gains renewed importance in determining voting preferences. This is especially true in southern European countries, where young people have been most hit by the economic crisis, and therefore the anti-establishment divide tends to overlap with the generational one. This seems to confirm the interpretation that young people have withdrawn from mainstream politics because of their feelings of exclusion from parties incapable of addressing their demands. This chapter, relying on both quantitative data from national surveys, and qualitative research, highlights the importance of considering the socialization processes in looking at these issues. In the Italian case, the young are not the only cohort who experience a disadvantaged situation nowadays: they share it with a group identified here as the in-between cohort. Despite their similar socio-economic situation, these two cohorts react in different ways, and these differences may be explained in the light of the diverse political, economic, and cultural environments where they have been socialized. This chapter interprets these differences in terms of socio-economic cohort effects and suggests that while the in-between cohort is the most supportive of anti-establishment parties, young people rather lean towards a technocratic kind of politics.