Contested Imaginaries: Representations of Youths in Public Discourse on Insecurity and Social Issues

In this presentation, we reconstruct the processes of problematization, as well as the articulations and tensions surrounding issues of insecurity, social issues, and youth. This analysis is based on discussions and stances taken by workers from various socio-occupational groups during the post-pandemic period in Argentina.

Through focus groups composed of workers from diverse sectors of the labor market, we identified the emergence of youth as a key topic in public debate, particularly in connection with the issue of insecurity. As a result, young people are embedded within imaginaries that position them on different sides of the discourse. While some individuals identify youths as perpetrators, others focus on the situations they experience, framing them instead as victims.

Using a qualitative methodological approach, this paper sheds light on the state of the "post-pandemic" debate regarding the ways in which insecurity, social issues, and youth intersect within the focus groups we conducted.