Re-thinking youth and citizenship. Value groups and citizenship types of young Finns

Utilizing theoretical discussions of social capital, identity, and action competence, this article examines citizenship and its relationship with societal values, formal and non-formal education, and youth work. The analysis is based on four comparative follow-up studies on value changes amongst Finnish youth between 1989 and 2011. Behind different value structures, the citizenship types of egalitarian, cosmopolitan, ecological, cynical, authoritarian, ethno-national and neo-liberal were identified with their own belief systems and doctrines. These variances were also seen as affected by gender and education level. The study ultimately reveals an observable decline in postmaterialist values among young Finns during the last economic recession, and that economic scarcity could be seen as nurturing hard, materialistic values despite difficulties of categorizing youth citizenship types outright.