Abstract

The (necessary) politicization of children's and youth's studies. Rev. psicol. polít. [online]. 2007, vol.7, n.14. ISSN 2175-1390.

Differently from other subject positions, children and youth have to be translated in their demands in modern societies. Translation poses specific problems, specially those concerning the polity: societal perspectives are centred round adults’ point of view, which moulds and dominates the scope of directions and values of social conviviality. This article analyses the issue of representation which puts adults in the position to act in place of children and youth, making these social segments politically invisible. It is argued, however, that in contemporary times childhood and youth have become a potentially embedded field: on the one hand, through the construction of new publics that decenter the place of eminent political discursivity; on the other hand, through the establishment of specific rights in favour of these segments. As for the latter, it is argued here, it shows limitations concerning making children and youth subjects of their own history, which, in fact, seems the most potent means of including excluded social groups in the polity.

Keywords : Childhood; Youth; Representation; Politics; History.

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