Political Parties in Search of the Youth

Occupation: Director of the Scientific Center of Digital Sociology «Yadov-center»
Affiliation: Russian State University for the Humanities
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Ivan A. Lavrov

Occupation: Deputy Director of the Scientific Center of Digital Sociology «Yadov-center»
Affiliation: Russian State University for the Humanities
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Journal name

Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya

Edition

Issue 12

Pages

64-75

Abstract

The article "Political Parties in Search of the Youth" is devoted to the analysis of political parties’ activity in social media during the 2021 election campaign to the State Duma. We have studied parties’ actions in eight social media: Facebook, VK, OK, Instagram, Telegram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and Twitter. A total of more than 1.5 thousand accounts were analyzed. It was found that those parties that were most active in social media got the best results in the elections. There was a contradiction between the parties' efforts to build an audience in social media and the methods they used to disseminate information. Many used methods belonged to the "old school", or were associated with attempts to use the authority of the offline leaders, the discourse actively used clerical language, which led the youth to unfollow. To change this situation, parties are beginning to actively involve young people in their headquarters to work in social media. Election campaigns are becoming hybrid, mixing old and new forms, introducing gamification and politainment. Results of the research have led us to the conclusion that the role of young people in election campaigns has changed fundamentally: from passive statists they become trendsetters, and life-wise politicians turn out to be their followers, imitating and copying the behavior patterns of 20-year-olds.

Keywords

social media, elections, political parties, online leaders, network power, parliament, youth, influencers, electoral campaigns, weak ties

Acknowledgment

The reported study was funded by RFBR and EISR according to the research project № 21-011-31795.

Received

24.12.2022

Publication date

27.12.2022

Number of characters

34459

Cite

GOST	Kryshtanovskaya O., Lavrov I. Political Parties in Search of the Youth // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2022. – Issue 12 C. 64-75 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250021398-0-1-en (circulation date: 05.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250021398-0
MLA	Kryshtanovskaya, Olga V, Lavrov, Ivan A "Political Parties in Search of the Youth." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 12 (2022):64-75. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250021398-0
APA	Kryshtanovskaya O., Lavrov I. (2022). Political Parties in Search of the Youth. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (12), pp.64-75 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250021398-0

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