SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

Abstract

This article is an attempt to reflect on the social construction of childhood and youth as historical, social and cultural categories. That way, these stages of life can’t be thought of as universal, in so far as they come up, at the same time, as plural and diverse. Since the authors have been involved in research specially with children and young people, it has been possible to notice how much social reality defines for these individuals ways of being and locating themselves in the world. In the same way, society and its hegemonic institutions, in an attempt to legitimize differences among children and young people from diverse cultures, different social realities, more or less favourable socioeconomic conditions, among others, has made clear differences, not in the sense of producing singularities and efective care, but marking (out) social places, of “insiders” and “outsiders”.