Subjective Well-Being and Political Participation: A Comparison of Unemployed and Employed Youth

Abstract

In this paper I analyze the role of subjective well-being in unemployed and employed youth political participation. Research shows that life satisfaction increases participation in voting, but has no effect on protest activities when looking at the overall population. However, in the case of youth, life dissatisfaction fosters the potential for protest activities. Since unemployment is detrimental for the subjective well-being of individuals, especially when long-lasting, I ask whether the reduced subjective well-being of long-term unemployed youth, their life dissatisfaction, fosters their participation in two forms of voice-based participation—contacting and protest activities—that can be used to express their dissatisfaction. I find that life dissatisfaction fosters the participation of employed youth in contacting activities, but not that of unemployed youth. Quite on the contrary, for protest activities, it is life satisfaction that fosters participation of the unemployed youth.