Youth civic and community engagement under Singapore’s Covid-19 lockdown

Motivations, Online Mobilization, Action, and Future Directions

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6077149
AutoresJin Yao Kwan (0000-0003-0085-8069, Department of Social Welfare, Luskin School of Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen30
Número3
Páginas234-254
Fecha de publicación2022-07-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Community Practice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1070-5422 • E-ISSN: 1543-3706
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10705422.2022.2108952
OpenAlexW4289518412
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas33

Disasters like COVID-19 adversely affect young adults but also present opportunities for civic and community engagement. Cognizant of and personally experiencing the pandemic's disproportionate socio-economic fallout on disadvantaged communities, civically engaged young adults have mobilized and questioned government actors and structures which perpetuated pre-pandemic vulnerabilities. However, research gaps exist about their motivations, community engagement processes, and implications of post-disaster mobilization on long-term socio-political engagement with communities and governments. A thematic analysis of public podcast episodes produced by the author during Singapore's COVID-19 lockdown revealed five chronologically related themes: "Pandemic and lockdown as triggers," "Motivations," "Online mobilization," "Action," and "Future directions." Respondents, triggered by COVID-19, were motivated by new socio-economic needs and existing inequalities and responded quickly. Their seamless online mobilization and action informed future civic and political directions, resulting in two distinct approaches to long-term engagement. Those framing their initiatives as addressing preexisting needs called for more fundamental changes to ensure communities were not vulnerable to start with. Others who believed that the government's pandemic response was adequate focused solely on their own initiatives, which they saw as filling gaps that the government could not. Youth COVID-19 engagement is thus likely to shape community-building and young adults' expectations of governments

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Action (physics · Civic engagement · Collective action · Community engagement · Community organizing · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Media studies · Mobilization · Online community · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Social engagement · Sociology · Law · Medicine · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Youth Development and Social Support · Virology