The Privilege of Being Politically Active – a Qualitative Study on the Political Commitment of University Students

Abstract

This article presents the most important results of a study on the university political commitment of students at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg. The study focuses on the question of why and how students at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg become involved in university politics. Semi-standardized interviews are conducted with students from different educational backgrounds. The Civic Voluntarism model by Brady, Schlozman and Verba, and Bourdieu’s capital theory were used to evaluate the interviews. This provides an insight into the relationship between participation-relevant resources, or capital, and political commitment. On the basis of a comparison of the interviews, hypotheses are developed that can be regarded as the results of the study. The study thus provides insight into the significance of social origin and political participation, as well as socialization-related factors.