7/7 Governments could therefore increase political participation of the working-class by investing in youth groups. In Germany, at the moment, the contrary seems to be the case.

6/7 Our main finding, however: working-class children who volunteer, even when we factor in political interest, personality types and education, are almost as likely to vote as children from the highest class background (professionals).

5/7 Also, working-class children are less likely to volunteer during youth, but once we factor in personality traits such as extraversion and openness, the gap grows smaller.

4/7 But what we did find is that youth volunteering (spending time in organisations for a common good) increases turnout in adulthood, and that working-class citizens are less likely to vote.

3/7 So we twichted the individualisation-hypothesis (the working-class are dependent on political cues from, e.g., unions), combined it with political socialisation theory (early experiences have long-lasting impact) and found: nothing. At least for the football-experience I suspected.

1/7 Happy to share that my second publication is out in @polstudies.bsky.social! @leoazzollini.bsky.social and I find that the class gap in political participation can be mitigated via youth volunteering. Main findings in the 🧵