Conducted at the University of Eastern Finland, a new study sheds light on young Finnish environmental activists, discovering that their activist identities are multidimensional and even contradictory at times. The study explored how young environmental activists construct their identities and the cultural narratives associated with activism, emphasising intergenerational responsibility, global climate justice, and activism either as a form of disruption or planetary care.

“There are different cultural narratives around activism that involve moral tensions and obligations, for example in relation to intergenerational justice. It is important to dismantle stereotypes and prejudices associated with activism and activists to strengthen young people’s societal agency and increase its acceptability,” notes Juni Sinkkonen, a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland.

“The study helps us to understand why negative and intergenerationally conflicting perceptions of activism can prevent young people from participating in civic life. By researching and understanding young people’s active environmental citizenship and activism, we can offer the broader society ways to strengthen environmental citizenship among both young people and adults,” Professor Irmeli Mustalahti of the University of Eastern Finland explains.

Five different activist identities

Published in Youth and Globalization, the study involved interviews with Finnish environmental activists aged from 18 to 25. The researchers identified five key activist identities: the tough activist, the troublemaker activist, the planetary citizen activist, the compulsory activist and the non-activist. The study shows that young environmental activists’ identities are constantly negotiated and can be formed across several activist identity categories simultaneously.

Tough activists are bold, highly visible and prone to taking risks. Troublemaker activists break social norms, which may be perceived as disruptive by outsiders. The category of planetary citizenship activists emphasises shared responsibility over the global good, empowerment and other positive connotations in activism. Compulsory activists act out of a sense of duty and are often overburdened. Non-activists, in turn, oppose or ignore activism, or take a passive stance towards it.

“An individual can have several overlapping activist identities, and the narrative of their identity is continuously shaped in relation to the context, other people and societal expectations. The activist categories can also be mutually contradictory. For example, highly visible forms of activism, such as demonstrations or direct action, may be admired, yet individuals may still avoid identifying themselves with these forms of activism,” Sinkkonen says.

Intergenerational responsibility and global justice feature prominently in young people’s narratives

The activist identities identified in the study were intertwined with broader societal narratives of intergenerational responsibility, global climate justice, activism as disruption, and activism as planetary care.

The study sheds light on how young people constructed narratives in which they felt almost forced into activism due to inadequate climate action by previous generations. Feelings of injustice formed a central part of this intergenerational responsibility narrative. It also revealed a moral rupture where older generations were seen as failing to bear their responsibility to secure a liveable future for younger generations.

Many of the young people interviewed viewed themselves as globally privileged, which brought with it a particular responsibility to act to mitigate the climate and biodiversity crises. For these young people, activism was not only an obligation but also a positive opportunity to promote global justice.