In this article we analyse the concept of
participation. The analysis is informed by both quantitative and qualitative
youth studies conducted in Finland. To analyse different aspects of
participation special emphasis is placed on the migrant young seeking asylum.
Young can be seen as sometimes engaged and disengaged from the existing forms
of participating. The results of the youth studies also show that there seems
to be a gap between representative democracy and the peer-group-based forms of
participation of the young. To analyse in detail how this gap can be
understood, the theory of recognition developed by Axel Honneth is used to
pinpoint different arenas of participation. Honneth’s levels of recognition –
family, civil society and the state – can be used to reformulate the
results of the youth studies, which show that personal relations and work life
continue to be important for the young, while the interest in the traditional
political participation is diminishing.