Youngsters and youths: consensus and dissensus

Abstract

This paper depicts part of the reflections developed in the doctoral research within the Postgraduate Program in Education at UFRGS. It examines the consensus that the studies, since the ‘90s, produced about the young, putting in evidence the diversity and uniqueness related to the youth of our time. From a theoretical point of view, the analyses were based on the studies realized by Melucci, Sposito, Pais, Serna, Reguillo, Abad, Feixa, among others. It is clear that after attention had been directed at children and teenagers in the 80’s with the elaboration and adoption of the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente [Children and Young Persons Statute], in the next decade, the youth gained visibility. There were several contributing factors such as the large contingent of young people, the unemployment rate and the lack of activities for young people, the spread of AIDS among the young population and the social indicators that regard the youth as a “social problem”. In this context, some consensus started to be established: the understanding of young people as subjects with rights, the diversity of their reality, the peculiarities of youth, and the need for distinct responses to different situations. However, the challenges remain on how to contemplate all that in the public policies directed at the young in Brazil.