The study of quality of life refers to the material environment
(social welfare) and psychosocial environment (wellbeing). It has
been defined as a concept that implies the objective and subjective
dimension that Cummins (1997) first studied in seven domains. The
use of domains in the quality of life study allows a more precise
measurement than the one that could have been reached through
simple questions, since psychometric scales are used and if the
addition of domains is equivalent to the totality of life
satisfaction, then the group of domains is a valid measure of
quality of life. In the case of young people, it has been observed
that even if they live in negative physical, social and contextual
conditions, they can nevertheless experience a relatively positive
experience in relation to their quality of life, depending on the
strategies and capabilities that they generate in relation to the
context. Similarly, young people that live in favorable
socioeconomic conditions and with a trouble free psychological
situation may experience a relatively poor evaluation of their
position in life (Patrick et al). oung people do not form a
homogenous group and, in this sense, it is not possible to
generalize about youth; they interact with the environment in which
they live and they are a product of the history they happen to
live, in this way they transit different vital scenarios in daily
life that affect their quality of life. The social representations
about youth that each population has, in each historical moment,
are embedded in the social context in which young people live and
develop, conditioning every-day life and /or creating related
stereotypes. The concept of youth is a social construction built
conjointly by all members of society in the historical moment in
which they live. Young people interact with the environment in
which they live and they are a product of the history they happen
to live. Authors like Urresti (1999) define youth from a point of
view that takes into account the living together of different
generations in different societies, thus being impossible to
compare young people of today with those of two or three decades
ago; in addition, he states that it is necessary to situate the
understanding of youth within the historical and social moment in
which they live. Nowadays the predominant adult model is based in
individualism, and even if an intergenerational dialogue is
necessary, it is difficult for young people to achieve this kind of
communication with adults that, in some cases, are living "stages
of youth" or that need to be "forever young". Young people live in
uncertainty, with a limited perspective for future action,
assigning their own meaning to events and facts, according to their
fundamental concerns that are significantly different from those of
their parents' generation. In the other side the process of
globalization and the protagonist social role of the new
informational and communicational technologies, produce that the
possibilities to expand individual freedoms increase, but not all
young people can manage with it (Lechner, 2002). What young people
need in order to construct their citizenship and feel satisfied,
varies according to the different societies, especially considering
that most of them live a fragile situation. As Cortina (2003:7-9)
states, the idea of citizenship always transcends individualism,
because the citizen is somebody that exists together with others,
and those others are equal to him before the city, is somebody that
deliberates with others, that acts with others conjointly, that
assumes the protagonist role of his own life, in this way citizen
is not only that who the law protects, but that who participates in
the public issues. Speaking about young people we propose to
recognize them from their equal dignity because "recognition is not
only a courtesy that we owe others: it is an essential human need"
(Taylor, 1993:46). This recognition is based in human dignity and
tends to protect the basic rights of people as individuals and to
recognize the particular needs of people as members of specific
cultural groups (Gutman, 1993:20). This brief book is dedicated to
analyze the relations between quality of life and construction of
citizenship of young people in Argentina, considering two specific
social scenarios: the community and the university. In the case of
community it is important to note that it not imply uniformity, as
community means the inclusion of diversity and the achievement of
sharing within it, and in the case of university it will be
necessary to recognize that as an educational institution the
university has expanded his traditional role of production of
knowledge, to be an institution of social reference and social
support for students. To do this the author will show some of the
results of a decade of research in quality of life and young
people, using quantitative and qualitative methods.
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