Critical Consciousness Development in Young Participants of University Student Unions.

Abstract

The study of youth political participation represents an area of interest for developmental psychology (Haste, 2017). It has been studied broadly through the concept of critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2017). However, it has been mostly studied from quantitative approaches, and in the Global North region, possibly constraining the results. This work aims to analyze the development of critical consciousness through the analysis of critical reflection and critical action and their relationships among youths from Buenos Aires who participate in university student unions. For this purpose, semistructured interviews guided by the Piagetian clinical method were conducted with 24 students aged between 19 and 26 years. For the analysis, categories were elaborated through the constant comparative method. In general, participants tended to present a complex critical reflection. In addition, most of them present a critical action with an institutional scope. Finally, it could be inferred that a critical action of greater scope is related to a more complex critical reflection, suggesting that transformative action in society would be related to the complex understanding of social inequalities.