engleski

What does it mean to be left or right? Meaning and understanding of left-right orientation among youth

This study aims to explore the meaning of right-left self-placement among youth, to investigate if young people understand distinction between right and left and in what way, as well as to explore the correspondence between established correlates of left-right identification and youths’ understanding of left-right dimension. More specifically, the study will explore the correspondence between self-placement’ of young people on the left-right scale during the survey, and the type and level of explanation they offered for the differences between left and right political dimension within follow-up semi-structured interviews. Furthermore, the study will explore the multivariate relationship between left-right self-placement as dependent variable and socio-demographics (age, gender, socio-economic status), social and political attitudes (national identity, religiosity, attitudes towards religion, minorities, democracy, and violence as well as economic attitudes and political tolerance) and political interest and knowledge as determinants. Additionally, by qualitative analysis of the data collected by follow-up semi-structured interviews the study will explore the youths’ main associations and their understanding of left-right political dimension. Data were collected within the international EU FP7 My Place project (http://www.fp7-myplace.eu/index.php) by face to face survey on representative probabilistic samples of young person (16-25 years) on two locations (city districts) in Zagreb, Croatia (N=1217), while qualitative data on youths’ understanding of left-right dimension were collected by follow-up semi-structured interviews on the subsample of surveys participants (N=61). The findings will be discussed taking into account Croatian social and political context, especially with regard to youth political socialization and recent changes in political systems.

left-right orientation; youth; Croatia; MyPlace

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