Populism in youth: Do experiences in school matter?

Abstract

Many view populist tendencies among youth with concern because adolescence is a formative period for political development. Of the many factors that shape young people's populist attitudes, experiences in school deserve attention since young people spend time in educational settings and schools share the goal of educating students to become informed and responsible citizens. However, the school context offers a wide variety of experiences, ranging from formal curricular to informal (climatic or participatory) characteristics. While empirical findings indicate that experiences in school affect the extent to which young people lean toward populism, results are not always clear and point to considerable gaps in the literature. Consequently, in this article, we discuss practical implications of studies on this topic and outline directions for research.