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Objectives: The study explores how the Internet and social media promote active citizenship and political participation among young people. Methodology: Literature review and analysis of an inventory of good practices in the area of youth sociocultural education withregard to the use of the Internet and social networks. Results: Sociocultural entities can provide important guidance for young people in the practice of active citizenship and the participation in the digital context. Young people need specific skills in order to take full advantage of the benefits of the Internet and social media, especially with regard to reducing the gap in their political and cultural participation. Given the potential of sociocultural education to help young people develop as active and critical citizens, policies should place more emphasis on the creation of innovative methods ofyouth employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper submits for discussion the heuristic usefulness of incorporating the political perspective of youth cultures in order to analyze contemporary connections between youth, politics and culture. If traditional approaches emphasized the cultural character of politics and the symbolic elements, meanings and perceptions that youth construct regarding politics, what is proposed here is to think about youth culture politically and make visible new spaces for constituting conflict today, broadening the field of studies toward youthful practices that contest the hegemonic meanings of political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]