The Political Participation of University Students a Field Study in the Departments of Sociology and Psychology, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Mohamed El Bachir El Ibrahimi University – Bordj Bou Arreridj

Abstract

The study addresses a fundamental topic in political sociology, namely the political participation of university students, or rather, the crisis of their political apathy and its underlying causes. Although we lack precise statistics to support our observation regarding the phenomenon of political apathy among youth in general and university students in particular, we have conversely found numerous indicators confirming the existence and expansion of this phenomenon. This is especially true since even official circles frequently, albeit indirectly, acknowledge this politically concerning issue, considering that youth—who constitute over half of society- represent an unutilized electoral asset whose millions of votes remain untapped.

Based on this, we attempted to verify this apathy and sought to identify at least some of its causes. Consequently, we concluded that university students indeed exhibit political apathy. The reasons for this are attributed to the nature and volume of the parents' cultural capital, and the type of family socialization they received. In contrast, parental authority was found to have no impact on this participation