Young Activists, Advocates, and Allies: Examining Adolescents’ Critical Political Development

For decades, young people have been at the forefront of social justice movements around the world, engaging in efforts to advance human rights and racial, gender, and climate justice. Society greatly benefits when young people harness their innovative ideas and lived experiences to address complex social problems. Adolescence is an important time for studying political development, given that young people are actively forming their worldviews and identities and are gaining awareness, agency, and capacities to make social change. Although some adolescents become activists, young people take a diverse array of political actions to impact issues they care about. Sociopolitical development theory is a useful theoretical framework for understanding the developmental processes by which young people become critically conscious, that is, develop knowledge and beliefs, motivation, and actions that challenge systemic inequalities and advance equity and justice. Drawing from recent quantitative and qualitative research and the broader literature, this talk will offer insights into how young people become critically consciousness, with special attention to understanding variability in adolescents’ critical consciousness development. Research evidence will also highlight the ways in which specific opportunities across contexts spark the development of adolescents’ critical consciousness. Additionally, the talk will present research on the factors that help young activists sustain their active commitments to social justice over time. Taken together, findings offer directions for future research and implications for community-based organizations and social institutions that aim to support adolescent development.