The new juvenile condition: reflections on the meanings and practices that shape the labor trajectories of poor young

Abstract

In the context of a deconstruction of the working world, there are still old and new problems in the youth population, which is presented as one of the most vulnerable groups. Therefore, new generations experience the crisis of the different institutions and, consequently, of those patterns of integration considered hegemonic for a given socio-historical moment. The changes over the last decades have involved profound changes in the condition of youth, in which one of its most important manifestations is the labor trajectories that line the youth. In this background, this article investigates how meanings and practices are articulated in the constitution of the labor trajectories of young residents of a suburban neighborhood of the southwest of La Plata city, Province of Buenos Aires. We propose to analyze the senses that give youth to work throughout their life, looking at the same time to grasp the logic that guide their actions in this field, that accounts a complex network among the labor sphere and other spheres of life. From a qualitative perspective, in-depth interviews are conducted looking to grasp the set of processes, practices and juveniles imaginary starting from subjective and objective characterization of the labor itinerary. In this line, some points that emerge from the analysis are presented and that appear as relevant topics for reflection in order to generate a deeper discussion that contributes to the understanding of the youth phenomenon