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This chapter, based on an ethnographic study of an urban neighbourhood movement organizing an annual street party, asks what collective civic action looks like in the age of individualism. The activists eschewed traditional organizational forms of Finnish civil society in favour of a more open social movement and participation defined by personalism and individual creativity, and emphasized doing instead of belonging as the defining feature of the movement. This required the upkeep of a commitment culture in order to get activists to take responsibilities of their ‘solo gigs’ within the larger movement. The chapter delves deeper into the several meanings of “individualism” and argues that 1) individualism can manifest in several ways, and therefore 2) increasing individualism, or personalism, within collective structures does not necessarily mean an increasing pursuit of self-interest but that 3) it does geopardize the formation and up-keep of a political coalition.
Based on interviews and fieldwork among climate activists principally from the Extinction Rebellion Finland, this chapter shows how the cultural tools of individualism work in a social movement with all the seemingly traditional features of collective action. While demonstrations and civil disobedience are often organized collectively, and their aftermath is dealt with debriefing in affinity groups, the engagements of the activists turn out to be extremely individualistic. Activists portray themselves as reluctant both to call themselves activists, and to pursue the actions any longer than strictly necessary, and these features connect to their burdensome feeling of being individually responsible not only for the actions they take, but also for the movement’s success, and ultimately for the fate of the planet. Political protest, or the collective movement formed to pursue it, has no intrinsic value, but only serves the purpose of influencing climate politics in the most efficient ways possible. The chapter concludes that the individualistic and efficiency-bound culture of doing society replaces prefiguration and, overall, results in a solitary and burnout-prone activist experience for the youth.
How do young people participate in democratic societies? This book introduces the concept of ‘doing society’ as a new theory of political action. Focused on Finnish youth, it innovatively blends cutting-edge empirical research with agenda-setting theoretical development. Redefining political action, the authors expand beyond traditional public-sphere, scaling from formal to informal and unconventional modes of engaging.
The book captures diverse engagement from memes to social movements, from participatory budgeting to street parties and from sleek politicians to detached people in the margins. In doing so, it provides a holistic view of the ways in which young people participate (or do not participate) in society, and their role in cultural change.
