Authenticity as a Communications Framework in Service of Youth Democratic Mobilization.

• Author: Caduhada, Jerika

Youth participation in traditional democratic institutions such as voting and political party membership has been in decline. But this disengagement is not necessarily apathy. Rather, it may be an active choice (and political act) of youth to withdraw support from systems they deem to be deeply flawed. Instead, youth have gravitated to newer, more informal, and community-centered forms of youth political engagement. In this article, the author suggests that promoting youth engagement in traditional democratic institutions and strengthening their ties to these institutions requires trust-building strategies. She explains how authenticity as a communications framework can be used to mobilize youth and focuses on social media platforms as a promising site for this concept to be put into practice. Drawing on interviews with 12 MLAs from the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, the author outlines how politicians have chosen to use social media platforms, ways in which these platforms may be used to communicate authenticity, and some of the barriers both politicians and their audiences encounter in these spaces. She concludes by noting that communicating authenticity through social media is but one of many strategies that could and should be undertaken to rebuild trust in traditional democratic institutions among young people.

Introduction

When looking at the pattern of low voter participation among the youngest electoral age groups, (1) it is easy to fall into the pervasive narrative of youth apathy. This narrative purports that youth are disengaged simply because they do not care about political issues. Youth engagement scholar Peter Levine proposes another idea--that young people's withdrawal from traditional democratic institutions, such as elections and political parties, may instead be an active choice of young people to not endorse forms of participation that they believe to be deeply flawed. (2) Levine posits that young people's disengagement comes not from indifference, but rather from intention. In this way, disengagement itself can be considered a political act. However, despite any sentiments of disenchantment or distrust among young people, traditional democratic institutions have fundamental roles in long-lasting systemic change. This article tackles the question of how to (re)connect young people with such democratic institutions by focusing on the use of social media by Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of B.C. Recognizing the importance of trust in any relationship between an elected representative and their constituents, this article focuses specifically on the concept of authenticity as a framework within which political communication on social media can operate in service of trust-building and, relatedly, youth democratic mobilization.

I begin with a discussion on youth disengagement from traditional democratic institutions. Next, I provide a brief review on the rise of newer, more informal, and community-centered forms of youth political engagement. Together, these sections demonstrate an appetite among youth to engage in political issues but also reluctance to pursue such engagement with traditional democratic institutions. To strengthen young people's relationships with such institutions, I argue that building trust is critical. I explore authenticity as a framework within which politicians may operate to make themselves knowable to, and thereby build trust with, their constituents. I focus on using the concept of authenticity specifically as a communications framework on social media, a space generally populated with youth and already employed by some youth to engage politically. Drawing on my interviews with 12 ML As, I explore potential hesitations and barriers that may arise amongst politicians when attempting to employ an authenticity framework to communicate with young voters. I conclude with a final reflection on the democratic value of authenticity and its potential on social media for supporting youth democratic mobilization.

Youth Political Engagement

While "youth" is a perennially flexible constructed category, for the sake of the following discussion on democratic engagement, the term "youth" will refer to people between the ages of 18-30. This demographic's declining engagement with traditional democratic institutions is well-studied. A 2019 Abacus Data poll shows that nearly three-quarters of Canadian youth say that politics and government are too complicated and therefore inaccessible. Sixty-one per cent of people in this group say that they do not believe the government listens to them. (3) A recent study commissioned by Elections Canada suggests cynicism among youth is high, particularly amongst marginalized groups. (4) Of course, cynicism is not limited to youth: only 19 per cent of Canadians in a 2018 Environics study claimed strong trust in democratic institutions such as Parliament, and only 10 per cent in political parties. (5) From increasing worry and...