Reflections on the political action of the youth

Abstract

This article presents some conceptual perspectives to analyze the youth’s political actions. It is based on the perceptions of freshmen who participated in the research project “Emergence of the political subject in college students”, which inquired about the notions, actions, interests, and appraisals on politics by Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira students.

The study considers the socio-political context where the political action of the youth in the country has taken place. The findings of the research project, which accounted for the youth’s rejection of all institutional forms of politics due to their connection with corruption, enabled some reflections on the factors that prevent political action. It also discusses the information and communication technologies’ potential to facilitate political participation. Finally, it approaches the manifestations of the political subject in the study population. The discussion considers the contributions of several research projects and authors such as Bauman (2007), Perea (2008), Mejía (2009), and Martín-Barbero (2010).