Exploring the political ideology of young people frequenting political clubs in Malta

Abstract

The study explores the political ideology of young people frequenting the political clubs belonging to the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party was carried out using qualitative research methods in the form of semi-structured interviews. Twelve young people frequenting different political clubs were interviewed. The data was analysed using grounded theory. The study investigated the various factors influencing the choice of political allegiance made by young people frequenting political clubs. The study explored the influence of family, social class, partisanship and patronage networks on the choice of political allegiance made by these young people. It also investigated their opinions on a variety of social, economic and political issues so as to determine whether these young people adhere to the ideology of the political party they support and to the ideal types of 'democratic socialism' and 'Christian democracy.' All young people interviewed in this study were influenced by their family background in their choice of political allegiance to the extent that a substantial number explained their political allegiance in terms of kinship loyalties. Social class was the second main factor influencing the political allegiance of young people frequenting Malta Labour Party clubs. In this study political patronage does not emerge as an important factor as only one of the young people interviewed has resorted to asking personal favours to politicians and party officials who frequent the clubs. The opinions expressed by young people on social and economic issues do not reflect sharp differences except that that young people frequenting Malta Labour clubs tend to be more liberal in moral matters like divorce while some young people in Nationalist Party clubs tend to more liberal in economic matters.