First Advisor

Jack Miller

Date of Award

Spring 6-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Political Science and University Honors

Department

Political Science

Language

English

Subjects

Youth Disillusionment, Democratic Legitimacy, Intersectionality, Political Alienation, Youth Activism, Civic Engagement

Abstract

This thesis examines the growing crisis of democratic legitimacy among young people in the 21st century. Across the United States and globally, young people are increasingly disillusioned with formal democratic systems, not because they are disengaged or apathetic, but because they feel systematically excluded from structures that claim to represent them. Through an interdisciplinary framework rooted in political theory, affect studies, intersectionality, and critical media analysis, this research argues that democratic trust cannot be repaired without emotional truth, structural accountability, and reimagined participation.

Drawing on the work of Lipset (1959), Crenshaw (1989), Cohen (2020), Papacharissi (2015), and Spade (2020), this thesis integrates theories of legitimacy, learned helplessness, intersectional exclusion, affective publics, and mutual aid democracy. It challenges deficit models that pathologize youth non-participation, instead reframing disengagement as a political, affective, and rational response to historical exclusion and civic betrayal.

Methodologically, the thesis employs critical discourse analysis, interdisciplinary theory, and narrative-based case studies. It draws on examples such as the Sunrise Movement, Black Lives Matter, Portland Mutual Aid, End SARS in Nigeria, and Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, analyzing how young people mobilize emotions, grief, and care as political tools.

Ultimately, this research suggests that youth are not abandoning democracy--they are walking away from a system that was never fully designed for them. In its place, they are building new democratic imaginaries rooted in transparency, care, emotional honesty, and shared survival. The future of democracy depends not on returning to old norms but on evolving toward more inclusive and relational civic forms.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43653

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