Youth and the Environmental Movement – Symbolic Inclusions and Exclusions

The present study set out to use qualitative interviews in an effort to understand why young people from highly educated groups, especially from ‘non-productive’ sectors of the economy (public services, teaching, etc.), are found to have a relatively strong affinity to the environmental movement. Young people aged 15–20, who were members of organizations associated with the protection of or use of nature, were interviewed. In conclusion, we suggest that to some extent the class differences can be interpreted in the light of forms of symbolic inclusions and exclusions. There are a number of ‘symbolic fences’ that working-class youngsters have to cross in order to become members of an environmental organization. These fences are related to: the style and cultural identity of the members, expectations of a sort of self-enclosure as part of participation in the organization, the somewhat androgynous gender-identity of the members, the perceptions of nature that are dominant among the members and the organization's intellectual image.