Between Social Change and Personal Growth: Young Activists’ Biographical Outcomes

Research on youth activism is part of a broad and interdisciplinary field, but only some of this research has developed within social movement studies, where the biographical and generational aspects of youth participation remain limited and fragmented. Although young people are often overrepresented in non-traditional political participation, age is seldom treated as a key analytical category. Conversely, youth studies have mainly focused on institutional and traditional politics, paying less attention to unconventional forms of participation. This paper situates itself at the intersection of these literatures by linking social movement studies and youth research, while contributing to research on the biographical outcomes of activism. Besides examining motivations for participation and forms of mobilization, the study explores how young activists experience and interpret their own political engagement as a way to build not only a better society, but also a better future for themselves. Empirically, the paper draws on life history interviews with activists aged 18 to 24 based in Florence, to explore the intersection between two closely related dimensions of their activism: the present as a space of self-construction and the future as a space of political projection and personal achievements. First, it explores what young activists perceive they have learned through activism, how they reflect on and articulate the skills and competencies they have acquired, and whether these are shared, valued, or recognized outside activist circles. Second, it examines how young people imagine the future of their political engagement and assesses the meaning and effectiveness of collective action, including whether activism is conceived as a long-term commitment or as a transitional life phase. By analyzing these two dimensions jointly, the paper conceptualizes both the acquisition and valorisation of skills in the present and future-oriented political expectations as interconnected biographical outcomes of activism that young people strategically aim to build.