Di Luca Chinello e Giulia Picardi
Final assignment for the “Data Analysis” course in the Public and Corporate Communication Master’s program (COM), curriculum in Data Analytics for Politics, Society and Complex Organizations, a.y. 2024-2025, Università degli studi di Milano. Instructor: Professor Giulia Maria Dotti Sani.
Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyse Italian citizens’ involvement in politics through active forms of civic participation. The approach chosen considers age and gender differences as key factors to interpret the patterns and to frame the changes that occurred in almost twenty years.
Introduction
In recent decades, political participation has expanded beyond traditional forms such as voting or party membership, embracing forms of civic engagement that include attending demonstrations, signing petitions, and other non-institutional activities. These forms of activism, often described as non-electoral political participation, are particularly relevant for capturing how citizens engage with this active and non-institutional form of political participation (Dalton, 2008; Guglielmi et al., 2025).
Between 2004 and 2023, the European context has been marked by profound and often polarizing events – from the 2008 global financial crisis to the 2015 refugee crisis, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine – which have influenced the relationship between citizens and politics. In parallel, the spread of social media and the subsequent emergence of new forms of activism have facilitated access to non-conventional practices, notably the organization of people towards public demonstrations or the sharing of online petitions, especially among younger generations.
The Italian context provides a meaningful case for investigating these dynamics. From 2004 to 2023, Italy has experienced significant political and social shifts including changes in party systems and the rise of populist movements. The political atmosphere in Italy in 2004 was marked by growing public discontent and institutional tensions surrounding Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right government.
In 2022 Giorgia Meloni was the first woman to be appointed prime minister. While Giorgia Meloni’s leadership does not necessarily reflect grassroots activism, her profile brings attention to broader questions around age and gender representation in Italian politics.
This time frame, thus, allows for a comparison not only of the frequency of non-institutional political activities, but also for a reflection on potential changes in the composition of those who engage in them. Examining age and gender differences may provide insights into whether and how the profiles of those engaging in extra-institutional activism have evolved throughout the period from 2004 to 2023, marked by a series of political and social transformations.
The article “Chi protesta in Italia?” by Quaranta (2012) offers a broad analysis of unconventional political participation, considering factors such as education, age, gender and political orientation. His findings, based on EVS data from 1990 to 2009, show that civic activism in Italy is shaped by clear socio-demographic differences: higher engagement is overall associated with being male, highly educated, middle-aged, left-leaning, and a member of activist or union organizations. Trust in institutions and value orientations further differentiate participants. The typical protester is ideologically polarized and holds post-materialist values.
To contextualise the analysis in recent years from a sociological perspective, it is worth citing the OECD Survey “Government at a Glance 2023” (OECD, 2023), which states that the representation of young people in politics is key to strengthening their democratic engagement and encouraging whole-of-society participation in facing common challenges. On average across OECD countries, young people (age 18–29) are less likely to engage in institutionalised political activity than older groups but are more inclined to adopt non-institutionalised forms of activism, including petition signing, demonstrations, and online political expression.
With particular attention to gender, we refer to the Italian study “Youth Civic and Political Participation through the Lens of Gender” by Albanesi et al. (2012) which highlights a stronger civic involvement among very young women compared to very young men.
Our research, focusing on gender and age, examines two specific forms of non-institutional participation: “having signed a petition during the last 12 months” and “having taken part in a public demonstration during the last 12 months”.
Based on previous studies, we expect younger people and women to be more actively involved in such activities. We also expect changes between 2004 and 2023: we expect the general level of non-institutional political participation to have increased, and we expect that women are more involved in political activities in 2023 than they were in 2004.
Therefore, our research questions are: to what extent does political activism in Italy differ between age groups and genders? How did it change moving from 2004 to 2023?
The hypotheses to be tested are the following:
- H1: Younger people are more politically involved and active than older people when we consider non-institutional political participation.
- H2: Women are more involved in non-institutional political participation than men.
Our findings partially support hypothesis n. 1 whereas in the results for the hypothesis n. 2 there are some discrepancies.
Data and methods
This study uses data from two rounds of the European Social Survey: ESS round 2 (2004) and ESS round 11 (2023). The analysis includes only Italian residents. The main independent variables are age and gender. Age was recoded into four categories: 0–17, 18–35, 36–55, 55+; whereas the variable gender remained dichotomous as it was in the original dataset. The dependent
variables, petition signing and participation in public demonstrations over the past 12 months, were also dichotomised to allow for proportion testing. The two variables
have value 0 if the answer is “no”, and value 1 if the answer is “yes”.
We conducted a Chi-squared test to examine whether there is an association between age groups and each dependent variable, and a pr-test to assess gender differences. All tests were applied separately for 2004 data and 2023 data, allowing for a diachronic comparison.
Results
In the first part of our analysis, we focused on the Chi-squared test of independence. In both instances, a statistically significant association is observed between the two variables, indicating that the likelihood of engaging in petition signing and public demonstration is associated with age.
Figure 1 displays the proportion of respondents who reported engaging in two forms of political participation – signing a petition and taking part in a public demonstration – by age group, based on data from 2004. The yellow bars refer to petition signing, while the blue bars represent public demonstrations.
When focusing on petition signing, the data show that participation peaks among individuals aged 36–55, with 19% reporting this form of engagement. The 18–35 age group follows, with 14% of respondents declaring to have signed a petition, while older adults (over 55) display a lower level of involvement (10%). The lowest proportion is observed among the youngest respondents (0–17), with only 3% reporting petition activity. These results suggest that petition signing tends to rise steadily with age until midlife, before declining in later years.
Turning to participation in public demonstrations, the 18–35 age group stands out as the most engaged, with 15% reporting such activity. Young people under 18 also report a relatively high level of demonstration participation (12%), along with the 36–55 group (12%). The over 55 group is last, with only 7%. These results indicate that demonstration participation does not follow the same age-related trajectory as petition signing: it is more evenly distributed across cohorts, with a slight concentration among younger respondents.
Overall, these patterns reveal that different modes of non-institutional political
participation are linked to age in distinct ways. Petition signing is most prevalent among middle-aged individuals, whereas demonstrations attract younger participants more
consistently.
Figure 2 displays the proportion of respondents who engaged in the same forms of political participation in 2023.
When looking at petition signing in 2023, the highest levels of engagement are found among both the 18–35 and 36–55 cohorts, with 15% of respondents reporting this activity. Younger individuals under 18 also show a lower level of involvement (8%), while older respondents over 55 remain the least engaged, with only 6% declaring to have signed a petition.
Turning to public demonstrations, the most active groups are the 0–17 and 18–35 cohorts, both with 12% of respondents reporting participation. Engagement is slightly lower among the 36–55 group (10%), while the over 55 group records the lowest level of involvement, with 5% reporting demonstration activity.
Overall, the 2023 data highlight different age-related dynamics depending on the mode of participation: petition signing is concentrated in adulthood and midlife, while demonstrations appear more characteristic of younger cohorts.
Taken together, these results show some patterns. While participation in 2004 was more stratified by age, with a peak among middle-aged individuals, the 2023 data suggest a flattening of this pattern: overall, participation seems to be more evenly distributed among age groups, albeit at lower levels overall. As for public demonstrations, participation appears to have slightly decreased except from the youngest group. Petition signing has remained relatively stable overall, with an increase of 5% among the youngest age group (0 – 17).
In the second part of our analysis, the focus shifts to gender through a probability test (pr-test).
The results presented in Table 1 below reveal that, contrary to our expectations, there is no significant association between gender and active participation in petition signing. In the second wave of the European Social Survey, the gender disparity is not statistically significant.
In 2023, the findings are largely consistent with those of 2004 showing almost no change over the 20-year gap. The gender difference is not significant, indicating that the likelihood of women actively engaging in signing petitions is the same as that of men.
Conversely, Table 2 shows a significant association between gender and participation in public demonstrations. In both ESS rounds, women exhibit a lower propensity to actively engage in public demonstrations compared to men, thus diverging from the trends suggested by Albanesi and colleagues (2012).
Conclusion
This study aimed to investigate patterns of non-institutional political participation in Italy, focusing on the roles of age and gender across two time periods: 2004 and 2023. Grounded in the literature on civic engagement and political activism (Dalton, 2008; Albanesi et al., 2012; Quaranta, 2012), the research focused on two non-institutional forms of activism, in particular petition signing and participation in public demonstrations.
The findings offer mixed evidence regarding the proposed hypotheses. While younger people continue to be the most active age group in demonstrations, their prevalence is less pronounced than expected, and the overall rate of activism remains low. Interestingly, participation in signing a petition among minors (0–17) showed a notable increase in 2023, suggesting a potential shift in youth engagement patterns. These results partly confirm our first hypothesis but also highlight the need for a more nuanced understanding of political behaviour among young citizens.
As for gender, the results are partially aligned with existing literature. In contrast to what stated by Albanesi and colleagues (2012), who identified a stronger civic involvement among young women, our findings reveal a more balanced, and in the case of participation in public demonstrations even a reversed pattern. However, it is important to note that their study adopts a broader framework of civic and cultural engagement than the one used in our analysis. Following the findings of Quaranta, this analysis shows that men are more engaged in non-institutional political participation than women, when it comes to public demonstration. As for the activity of signing a petition, no statistically significant differences are detected. In this light, the analysis invites further examination of the underlying social dynamics. More extensive research is needed to deepen the investigation and to broaden the framework with more cultural and sociological data and reflections.
References
Albanesi, C., Zani, B., & Cicognani, E. (2012, 07). Youth Civic and Political Participation through the Lens of Gender: The Italian Case. Human affairs, 22(3), 360-374.
Dalton, R. (2008). The good citizen: How a younger generation is reshaping American politics. CQ Press.
Guglielmi, S., Riniolo, V., Maggini, N., Visioli, M., & Sanarico, A. (2025). “The Girl Must Stay Quiet”: Marginalisation of Young Women in Political Spaces and the Impact of Gender Socialization and Ethnic Background. SocietàMutamentoPolitica, 16(31), 59-74.
OECD. (2023). Government at a Glance 2023. Tratto da OECD Publishing: https://doi.org/10.1787/3d5c5d31-en
Quaranta, M. (2012, 12). Chi protesta in Italia? : Le Forme Di Partecipazione Politica Non Convenzionale: 1990-2009. Quaderni di Sociologia, 60, 59-82.
Photo by Sushil Nash on Unsplash