Subjective Action As Utopia: Horizontality and Autonomy In Youth Politics In Latin America

Young people’s political action in contemporary Latin America can be characterized by two key qualities: horizontality and autonomy.  Horizontality and autonomy are not altogether new in Latin American political action. These qualities are reflected in the region’s persisting aspirations to find alternatives to authoritarianism that has characterize both civil and military governments alike since independence until contemporary times. And these qualities have been espoused by social movements that emerged in the 1980s that sought to challenge longstanding social hierarchies sustaining authoritarian politics, including feminist, indigenous, environmental and urban neighborhood.

Yet, young people today give new meanings to horizontality and autonomy in their political action due to new conditions created by the dominance of the market and media, individualization, consumerism and globalization. Youth choose forms of political action that allow them to be directly involved in decision-making and to have freedom – personal and collective – from others’ control. And young people see their own subjective action, rather than government action, as the solution to their demands and problems. By constructing their own action as utopia, not as a goal to work towards but rather as an inspirational starting point from which to act practically in the present, young people challenge longstanding notions of an ideal future society that have historically sustained political action in the region.

Drawing upon our own empirical studies as well as a systematic review of secondary literature, our presentation/paper will explore how young people in Latin America understand horizontality and autonomy in their political action, where these understandings come from and what the consequences of these are.