Youth perceptions about politics: participation in secondary schools in Buenos Aires City, Argentina

The paper addresses the study of youth perceptions and senses about politics, based on research with high school students in recent Argentina. Findings related to the period 2015-2019 are presented, as part of the results of a qualitative study carried out with students from four secondary schools in Buenos Aires City. Data were collected from four focus groups. The research provided an important opportunity to advance the understanding of youth politicization regarding intergenerational relations with teachers, intragenerational relationships between peers, and meanings about political representation. On one hand, the study provides new insights to consider these dimensions as fundamental for understanding the production of the relationship between youth and politics in the school environment, as well as the subjects in the curriculum. On the other hand, we find that the perceptions of political representation are configured around the relationships between the inside and outside of the school. Also, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding, from a generational approach, of an historical context characterized by a new reconfiguration of the public sphere, together with the visibility of demands related to gender and sexuality issues. Also, the analysis carried out should make an important contribution to the field of youth studies from a socio-historical perspective, regarding young people's participation and citizenship in the educational system.