Living conditions and the construction of youth identities. The case of poor, excluded youth in Spain

Abstract

The effect of social position on youth identity has largely been ignored in comparison with cultural approaches. The discourses obtained from youths highlight the link between living conditions and the construction of subjectivity. The meaning that vulnerable young people give to their existence is linked to their social status and class. The aim of this article is to understand how young people resist the moral degradation and stigmatization attached to the inferiority of their status and the objective shortcomings of their living conditions.