Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3275: The Politics and Policies of Youth Engagement

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The module will provide you with:

  • Comprehensive knowledge of the competing theoretical explanations for the causes of youth disengagement, including the role of social capital, socialisation, political literacy, exclusion, and efficacy.
  • A critical understanding of the nature and sustainability of democratic practice in established systems, within which the issue of youth engagement is framed
  • The opportunity to evaluate policy responses to the issue in the UK and a selection of EU countries, including the agenda and discussions of the new UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Political Literacy
  • A global perspective on the changing nature and need for youth engagement in civic and political life

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Critically evaluate the key theories of youth disengagement in relation to causes and consequences
2. Explain and question the conceptual and practical changes to participation from a global perspective, utilising quantitative data
3. Identify and discuss political issues and framing in youth participation policy and discourse
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Appraise the implications of research methods on measuring political concepts
5. Deploy theoretical arguments and apply them to empirical case studies
Personal and Key Skills6. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of the internet, online journal databases and other IT resources for the purposes of tutorial and assessment preparation.
7. Implement the ability to communicate clearly and effectively in discussion and feedback with peers
8. Write clearly and coherently to construct rigorous arguments

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

  • FOX, S. (2014). ‘Is it Time to Update the Definition of Political Participation? Review of “Political Participation in Britain: The Decline and Review of Civil Culture’, Parliamentary Affairs. 67, pp. 495-505.
  • GAGNON, JEAN & EMILY BEAUSOLEIL (2017) 'Resist and Revivify: Democratic Theory in a Time of Defiance', Democratic Theory 4:1, pp. 1-10
  • HUEBNER, C., 2021. How young people in Scotland experience the right to vote at 16: evidence on 'Votes-at-16' in Scotland from qualitative work with young people. Parliamentary Affairs
  • MCCAFFRIE, BRENDAN & SADIYA AKRAM (2014) ‘Crisis of Democracy? Recognizing the Democratic Potential of Alternative Forms of Political Participation.’ Democratic Theory 1:2, pp. 47–55
  • PONTES, A., HENN, M. and GRIFFITHS, M.D., (2018) ‘Towards a conceptualization of young people’s political engagement: a qualitative focus group study’, Societies, 8 (1): 17
  • RAINSFORD, E., (2020) ‘Introducing youth proofing to survey research with young people’, SAGE Research Methods Cases
  • RAGUI ASSAAD & FARZANEH ROUDI-FAHIMI  (2019) ‘Youth in the Middle East and North Africa: Demographic Opportunity or Challenge?’, Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
  • SLOAM, J., (2014) “The Outraged Young": Young Europeans, Civic Engagement and the Social Media in a Time of Crisis’, The Networked Young Citizen: Social Media, Political Participation and Civic Engagement. London: Routledge, p. 161-179
  • UZUN, BEGUM (2013) “Quebec Ö?renci Grevi ve Yeni Gençlik Siyaset(ler)i: Kay?p Bir Ku?ak m?, Genç Olmaktan Kaynaklanan Deneyimler Üzerinden Aktivizmin Yeniden ?n?as? m??” (Quebec Student Strike and New Youth Politics: A Lost Generation or Re-invention of Activism based on Youthful Experiences?), Birikim, 287: March
  • WEINBERG, J., (2021) ‘Civic education as an antidote to inequalities in political participation? New evidence from English secondary education’, British Politics