Critical Consciousness Development in Young Participants of University Student Unions

Abstract

The study of youth political participation represents an area of interest for develop-mental psychology (Haste, 2017). It has been studied broadly through the conceptof critical consciousness (Diemer et al., 2017). However, it has been mostly studiedfrom quantitative approaches, and in the Global North region, possibly constrainingthe results. This work aims to analyze the development of critical consciousnessthrough the analysis of critical reflection and critical action and their relationshipsamong youths from Buenos Aires who participate in university student unions. Forthis purpose, semistructured interviews guided by the Piagetian clinical methodwere 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 ofthem present a critical action with an institutional scope. Finally, it could be inferredthat 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 complexunderstanding of social inequalities.