Vox.com has an article putting today's college-campus protests over Gaza, Israel, and the Palestinians in the context of US campus protests of the past 60 years, including those over Civil Rights, South African apartheid, and the Vietnam War. The article's interviews with researchers of student activism suggest that some things we are seeing currently are similar to what happened in earlier decades, whereas some present developments are not.
It is the Vox article's life-stage explanation of protest activism -- along with the importance of social context -- that most directly resonates with emerging-adulthood research. Consider the following passages from the article:
There is something about a university campus that inspires political activism. Even in the age of social media, geographic proximity to a community with a high concentration of young people — many of whom are thinking critically about the world for the first time and may be undistracted by the pressures of adult life — seems to help incubate social movements.
“The university is the center of teaching and learning where people are taught in classes, or out of classes, to question things,” [New York University professor Robert] Cohen said.
This isn’t specific to America. All around the world, college campuses are hubs of political activity and young people are at the forefront of social movements.
If these topics interest you, the above-linked Vox article is definitely worth a read.
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