Youth Participation and Mediation Practices: Issues of Social Learning

During the last years, studies coming from different disciplines have shed light on the multiple forms and meanings of youth participation. If we focus on the relationship between practices of participation and learning, it is observable that a relevant part of the learning that occurs when young people participate goes beyond the achievement of prescribed goals; it is rather about pursuing self-realisation, self-efficacy and learning from the ‘journey’. In other words, young people’s participation is essentially an experience of self-discovery and self-empowering where they ‘actively’ try to (re)define their individual and social identities and skills. However, the study of youth participation cannot be separated from a more general understanding of contemporary society and its complex dynamics affecting different social life spheres and the relationship between individuals and their social environment. The chapter explores this relationship presenting the results of an empirical study on youth participation in the field of cultural-artistic practices. The study is an illustrative case of youth participation in everyday life arenas with focus on sociability and building of social bonds. The findings from the fieldwork are analysed through a conceptual framework which interprets youth participation as a process of mediation and a ‘laboratory’ of social learning.