Empezar a militar: el compromiso político entre los estudiantes de la facultad de trabajo social de la UNLP

This paper is a case study focused on young university activists and is set out in the framework of theoretical concerns over the relationship between young people and politics. The development of political commitment stems from the idea of the personal trajectories of the students comprising the sample, since their life stories reveal the path they followed to become activists. This research work thus finds that there have been many points of entry to said path, as there have been several possible subsequent routes. The motives behind these youths’ decision to embrace politics are varied, ranging from personal reasons to the need for social change.

Being a member of a political group entails constant work; the characteristics of this activist work at university reveal the everyday problems that politically active students face when trying to communicate their proposals to their classmates. These characteristics also make it possible to describe the constant process of reflection any activist is subject to in order to address said everyday difficulties. These elements enable the reconstruction of the meanings involved in the political commitment taken on by these young activists. The description is completed by an analysis of their written output: leaflets, bills, posters and news bulletins. These items provide an overview of their political differences as well as a record of the collective discourse historically built by political groups as part of their day-to-day political struggle.