"Gen Z Political Participation: Student Unions and Democratic Engagement in India"
Depoliticisation
the structural process by which citizens are discouraged from collective political engagement, often under neoliberal capitalism.
Nano impulsiveness
a shortened political attention span bred by neoliberalism, favouring spontaneous over programmatic political action.
India's youth population is among the largest in the world. This demographic reality has been framed as a demographic dividend, the economic advantage that comes when a large working-age population supports a smaller dependent population. However, the dividend is conditional. It requires quality education, productive employment, and institutions that allow young people to participate meaningfully in public life.
Historically, Indian student movements shaped national politics. The JP Movement of the 1970s drew heavily on student energy. Student unions in universities were training grounds for political leadership and civic consciousness. Over time, however, this institutional space has contracted. Several state governments have banned or suspended student union elections, citing disruption. This withdrawal of campus democracy has coincided with a broader trend of depoliticisation, a process by which citizens, especially young ones, are discouraged from collective political engagement and redirected toward individual consumption and personal advancement.
The sociological backdrop matters here. Affordable smartphones and cheap mobile data have expanded what sociologist Robert Merton called the reference group, the set of people against whom individuals compare their own lives. Young Indians now measure themselves against a globally curated feed of affluence. When structural opportunities do not match expanded aspirations, the result is relative deprivation: a sense of falling behind that is felt acutely but often lacks an institutional channel for expression.
Depoliticisation is not simply a cultural mood. It is, as the article argues, a structurally engineered outcome. Neoliberal capitalism treats the citizen primarily as a consumer. Unemployment, housing insecurity, and livelihood crises are reframed as personal failures rather than systemic problems. This ideological shift shortens the political horizon: young people focus on immediate survival rather than collective demands.
This environment produces what the article calls nano impulsiveness, a politics of spontaneity and impulse rather than sustained programmatic engagement. A depoliticised youth becomes susceptible to personality cults and social media-manufactured consent. Hyper-nationalist, emotionally charged messaging fills the vacuum left by the absence of deliberative institutional spaces such as student unions and trade unions. …
In the context of any country, which one of the following would be considered as part of its social capital?
'Communalism arises either due to power struggle or relative deprivation.' Argue by giving suitable illustrations.
In the context of any country, which one of the following would be considered as part of its social capital?
Democracy's superior virtue lies in the fact that it calls into activity
Which of the following best describes the concept of 'social capital' as it is used in political sociology and as tested in UPSC examinations?
Consider the following statements regarding student union elections in Indian states:
1.Kerala holds regular student union elections and is considered an exception among major states.
2.West Bengal banned student union elections approximately a decade ago.
3.The Supreme Court's Lyngdoh Committee guidelines made student union elections mandatory in all central universities.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Match the following sociological concepts with the thinkers most associated with them:
List I (Concept) — List II (Thinker)
A.Reference group theory — 1. Arjun Appadurai
B.Capacity to aspire — 2. Robert Merton
C.Bonding and bridging social capital — 3. Robert Putnam
D.Vernacular globalisation — 4. Arjun Appadurai
Which of the following is the correct matching?
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