Living, Doing, and Learning from Politics in a Youth Wing of a Political Party

The present anaysis starts from the assumption that the field of civic and political participation has been studied mostly from individual, psychological approaches rather than collective, relational perspectives. In this context, it aims at addressing this gap through a political ethnography in the youth wing of a major Portuguese political party, conducted during the fervent months right before and after the Portuguese parliamentary elections of October 2015. This paper builds on the idea that youth wings can provide quality participation experiences. Through their activity, members of such structures being empowered to acquire and display high levels of political efficacy, critical thinking and effort regulation regarding political involvement.