Between Home and Europe: Youth Political Socialization in Overlapping Social Environments

Abstract

Political socialization research has traditionally emphasized the formative roles of family, school, peers, and national institutions. Contemporary young people, however, also encounter political ideas and practices through migration, European integration, and digital communication. This conceptual article develops the notion of overlapping socialization environments to explain how these contexts interact in the formation of political orientations. Methodologically, the article employs an integrative, conceptually driven review of foundational political socialization theory and selected scholarship on Romanian migration, European identity, and digitally mediated youth participation. The proposed framework treats family relationships, educational institutions, migration experiences, European integration, and digital communication not as isolated or merely additive influences, but as interconnected environments whose effects may reinforce, modify, or challenge one another. Their relative importance varies across individuals and contexts and may change over time. The framework does not establish causal relationships; instead, it organizes complementary bodies of scholarship and identifies a research agenda for testing how interactions among socialization environments shape political knowledge, values, identities, and participation. This perspective offers a more context-sensitive account of youth political socialization in increasingly interconnected European societies.