Between “CV builder” and “Genuine” activist: The many faces of youth civic engagement in Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the characteristics and relative importance of civic engagement for young members of civil society organisations in Serbia. This article is exploratory in character and is based on qualitative methodology. Youth engagement is observed through the theoretical lens of the life course approach. The questions addressed by the paper are as follows: How do young people perceive their civic engagement? What motivates their participation? How does this engagement relate to other aspects of their life course? The method used here is narrative analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with young volunteers and members of civil society organisations in Serbia selected through theoretical sampling. The key finding is that there is a range of motivations and accompanying strategies - from the purely idealistic to the highly instrumental. The majority of our respondents displayed a mixed type of motivation, successfully combining activities aimed at protecting the ?social good? with those that contribute to the achievement of personal goals. Motivation, however, tends to vary between the different types of organisations, professional and grassroots. Engagement in professional organisations is more frequently instrumental and, in contrast, grassroots organisations typically attract ?genuine?, value-driven activists.