Avances y desafíos de las Políticas de Juventud en el siglo XXI - FLACSO

The acceptance of youth as a social subject, with heterogeneous characteristics and proper potentials -far from those limited definitions based on trimming age- has traversed a long and complex journey. Today there is a relative consensus about a special reality that defines youth, which makes this sector recipient of specific public policies developed in a comprehensive perspective. This paper conducts a socio-historical analysis of the evolution of public policies and their underlying conceptions throughout his tory. The “youth problem” today, has reachedthe spotlight, due to the extreme financialization process that affects the global economy and has progressively drained resources from thereal economic circuit to the financial one, generating high unemployment levels and inequality worldwide. In this scenario, young people have been victims of extreme vulnerability and expulsion of the labor market. The article also presents the present contrast between youth public policies in Europe and in Latin America, especially during the last decade. Finally we analize as an example, the Argentine program PROGRESAR, a year after its creation.