Abstract

PEREZ-VERDUZCO, Germán. Rational and Irrational Motivations for Youth Political Participation in Colima (Mexico). Revista Col. San Luis [online]. 2024, vol.14, n.25, e1558.  Epub Oct 21, 2025. ISSN 2007-8846.  https://doi.org/10.21696/rcsl142520241558.

The research aim was to analyze the influence of rational and irrational motivations on the political participation of young people in Colima. This issue, which has been little studied from the perspective of political psychology, was analyzed with Broad Theory of Rationality, which constitutes one of the most important theoretical perspectives in the social sciences. We used the focus group technique to analyze the discourse of young people from Colima who belong to different civil society organizations and play an active role in them. The results indicate that both rational motivations based on a cost-benefit evaluation and irrational motivations linked to social or moral emotions can generate youth citizen participation. Civil society organizations provide ideal spaces for individuals to develop and learn to channel their needs and desires in an institutionalized manner.

Keywords : political participation; youth; citizenship; rationality; emotions.

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