Vulnerability, Processes of Subjectivation and Youth Activism. the “Juventud Sin Futuro (Youth Without Future)”´s Case in Spain.

On this paper we will tackle Spanish university-based youth activist group “Juventud Sin Futuro (Youth Without Future)”, key actor of the 15M movement and one of the most relevant activist groups in the wave of protests following the great recession of 2008. Our objectives are twofold. On one hand, we will look into how existential vulnerabilities among Spanish young generation became political conscience and led into new and unconventional ways of understanding and participating into politics. On the other hand, we will place Juventud Sin Futuro (JSF) within the current trends of sociological analysis of social movements studies, showing its origins, development, main features and the most prominent relationships and connections with other national and international political actors.

Given also the fact that JSF political activities came into an end recently we find ourselves in a great timing to assess their achievements and verify if new youth-driven activism is able to create and promote effectively spaces and subjectivities in the fight against social and economic precariousness.

This study is part of a larger research project funding by the Spanish Goverment (Proyecto I+D el Plan Nacional “Nuevas Formas de Vulnerabilidad Socio-Existencial, Soportes y Cuidados en España 2017-2021”) on existential vulnerability and is based on previous author´s work and the empirical work carried out by the project team throughout 2017.

Research methodology includes treatment of socio-demographic data, netnography and internet-based analysis as well as discourse analysis of interviews, press releases and statements.