Democracy Matters - Episode 92: Political Voices of GenZ

What has contributed to the rise of political engagement among young adults? How are young adults sharing their views with elected officials and what impacts might they be having on public policy? Are elected officials listening? 

In their new book, The Political Voices of Generation Z, Drs. Laurie Rice and Kenneth Moffett, Professors of Political Science at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, find that a range of issues - climate change, immigration, sexual violence, gun violence and racial injustice and inequities - have mobilized young adults. Rice and Moffett join us on Democracy Matters to discuss how these different issue movements have contributed to expanding or reducing political participation and how participation in these social movements relates to voter engagement. They also share the link between online activity and offline civic engagement for GenZ and how these forms of engagement offer different means for the expression of political voice.

Links in this episode:

• Rice, Laurie L. and Kenneth W. Moffett 2022. The Political Voices of Generation Z. New York, NY: Routledge.
• National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement. Data from the latest National Study on Learning, Voting and Engagement by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University reveals a stunning increase in student voting in the 2020 presidential election. 
• ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge