Youngsters and their routes in town

Abstract

This article presents the results of a research on youth and their cultural and leisure practices, sociability networks and exchange relations (as well as those of conflict) in the context of urban São Paulo. After introducing and discussing the terms "urban tribes and juvenile culture", I propose another term, "juvenile circuits" to deal with the theme. Instead of emphasizing the fact that they are youths, which would supposedly link a diversity of manifestations to a common denominator, the idea is to highlight their insertion in the urban scenario through an ethnography of the spaces where they circulate and meet, the occasions where there is conflict, and the partners with whom they establish exchange relationships. By adopting this approach, I intend to articulate two elements that are present in this dynamic: the behaviors and the spaces, institutions and urban equipment. The idea is to call the attention to (1) sociability and not to consumption and styles of expression linked to the generational issue, (2) to the permanence and regularity rather than fragmentation and nomadism.