Disagreement orientation: exploring disagreement orientation and its impact on political participation among Norwegian adolescents

Participation in politics and democratic society involves handling disagreement and a diversity of opinions. However, research reveals that many citizens have a strained relationship with disagreement, particularly when they are political. This paper examines young people’s orientation towards political disagreement and how such an disagreement orientation impacts political participation. Analysing data from an original survey of 531 Norwegian 15 year olds, this study demonstrates that disagreement orientation is multidimensional. More specifically, two distinct dimensions emerge as the most significant. The first is debate seeking, which encompasses positive emotions such as feelings of joy when debating opponents and actively participating in discussions. The second is conflict avoidance, characterised by negative emotions such as discomfort and concerns about social consequences. Furthermore, debate seeking and conflict avoidance emerge with distinct implications for various aspects of youths’ political participation, where being positively oriented towards disagreement show positive impact on political interest and political conversation. Therefore, this paper argues for more attention to adolescents’ disagreement orientation as multidimensional and for reflections on how this orientations influences political participation and political socialisation, for instance in the political classroom.