A systematic review on youth participation in the last 10 years

Abstract

This article presents a bibliographic review on youth participation, aiming to relate and discuss the main questions raised by researchers publishing in English and Portuguese in the last 10 years. It emphasizes and puts into context the question of participation regarding studies and social practices having youth as their target. A great number of academic publications approach a double perception: youngsters' poor social and political engagement and the emergence of new forms of participation. The article emphasizes the importance of youngster groups that are formed and motivated by artistic creation, spirituality, leisure, solidarity acts in their communities and through the fight against discrimination and different forms of violence. In order to recognize and understand these new forms of youth participation, new categories and analytic references are indicated. Bringing up adults and youngsters inside an institutional environment is considered the best way to obtain youth participation, the dialogue between generations and the re-signification of political spaces.