ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Political Participation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1568369
Interpreting Political Participation as Communicative Action: A Comparison of Younger and Older Adults
Provisionally accepted
András Déri1*
Andrea Szabó2,3- 1Institute of Research on Adult Education and Knowledge Management, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- 2Institute for Political Sciences, HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
- 3Institute for Political Sciences, Faculty of Law, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
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This study investigates the subjective interpretations of political participation among different age groups, focusing on youth and older adults. Building on Schwartz's (1984) interpretivist approach, the research examines the communicative forms of participation, both online and offline, to identify age-related differences and challenges prevalent assumptions about engagement patterns. Using a 2022 Hungarian representative survey (N=2972), the analysis explores the recognition of various participatory actions as political., incorporating socio-demographic factors such as age, gender, and education.The results reveal significant differences between age groups: while younger respondents are more likely to associate institutional and protest-based actionsforms with participation, older individuals display greater recognition of online engagement and conversational activities as legitimate forms of political involvement.Regression models highlight the non-linear effects of age on these interpretations, withthat older men are particularly inclined to view digital activism as political participation. These findings challenge stereotypes of online participation as a youth-dominated phenomenon and underscore the evolving roles of digital platforms in shaping political agency across age cohorts.By integrating theoretical and empirical insights, the study emphasizes the importance of subjective meaning-making in conceptualizing participation. It advocates for a re-evaluation of established frameworks, arguing that top-down typologies may inadequately reflect diverse, context-dependent understandings. The findings hold broader implications for refining participatory research methodologies and fostering inclusive mobilization strategies.
Keywords: political participation, comparision of young and older adults, subjective interpretations of political participation, online political participation, participation as a speech act
Received: 29 Jan 2025; Accepted: 23 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Déri and Szabó. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: András Déri, Institute of Research on Adult Education and Knowledge Management, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1053, Hungary
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