Young women, late modern politics, and the participatory possibilities of online cultures

Abstract

New technologies are often perceived as important resources in attracting young people to formal politics, but less is known about how young people use them to create participatory practice on their own terms. This article examines young women's less conventional technology-enabled political and social activity in order to understand how these are operating as emergent modes of participation in a new political environment. It explores young women's use of online DIY culture, blogs, social networking sites and related technologies to open up questions about what counts as politics, and what is possible as politics for young people, and young women in particular, at the present moment. It suggests that these activities represent new directions in activism, the construction of new participatory communities, and the development of new kinds of public selves, while also telling us important things about the limits of the kinds of conventional citizen subject positions offered to young women at this time.

Keywords:

• young women
• participation
• internet
• politics
• social networking

Acknowledgements

I thank Rachel Brooks, Paul Hodkinson and the two anonymous reviewers. I also thank Ariadne Vromen and Melissa Gregg for very helpful conversations, and Lesley Pruitt for research assistance.