HOW YOUNG ACTIVISTS RESPONDED TO THE FIRST WAVE OF THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN ITALY: VARIATIONS ACROSS TRAJECTORIES OF PARTICIPATION*

Abstract

This study explores how young activists in Italy responded to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic using sixteen longitudinal qualitative interviews conducted in 2018 and 2020. Our fieldwork suggests that the Covid-19 crisis did not resonate with any significant shift in the trajectory of participation. At the same time, three major empirical observations with regard to time reappropriation, care practices, and digital activism were made, all of which worked in different ways according to the interviewees’ trajectories of participation. This research extends beyond the Covid-19 crisis and contributes to the literature on political participation by providing a way of investigating how activists respond to critical events in different ways depending on their trajectories of participation.