Political Incorporation and the Protracted Transition to Adulthood: The Need for New Institutional Inventions

Compared with past generations, it takes longer for youth today to attain various markers of adult status. This protracted period of transition to adulthood has implications for their civic engagement. In addition, an institutional lacuna—a dearth of opportunities to practice civic skills and get recruited into civic life—exists for youth who do not go on to college. A growing class divide in civic participation may be the consequence for democracy in the USA. New social inventions to address the delayed transition to adulthood and the class divide in civic participation are called for. We draw from two studies (in-depth interviews with young adults and a national longitudinal study of participants in AmeriCorps) to bolster our arguments. In their classic study, Voice and Equality, Verba et al. (1995) conclude that involvement in voluntary associations and social institutions facilitates political participation among American adults for three reasons: First, participation in these groups is an opportunity to develop politically relevant skills; second, membership increases the likelihood that people will be involved in discussions of political issues and exposed to norms for involvement; and third, one’s presence in an institution or association increases the likelihood of political mobilisation, that is, of being invited or recruited into civic life. In this paper, we argue that the decline in civic participation among younger generations in the USA is, in part, due to life cycle issues and in part due to an institutional lacuna, that is, a dearth of organisational opportunities to practice civic and social skills and to get recruited into civic life. The lack of institutions or community-based organisations is especially acute for those young people who