The participation of «Propuesta Republicana» (PRO) party’s young activists in university student unions

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the forms of participation, political socialization and recruitment of «Propuesta Republicana» (PRO) party’s young activists in the student unions at two universities based in the City of Buenos Aires: the University of Buenos Aires, and the Argentine Catholic University. It examines how activists’ action repertoires and interpretive frames are shaped by their sociability and by the party’s political culture. The article shows that activists’ sociocultural and political proximity (or distance) from these institutions allows us to understand the characteristics of their engagement in the student unions at each of these universities. Our findings are based on fieldwork conducted between 2013 and 2015 using qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviews, direct observation in party events, and documents and web pages content analysis.