IL PERCORSO IDENTITARIO DEGLI ADOLESCENTI DI SECONDA GENERAZIONE E LA RISIMBOLIZZAZIONE DEGLI ARTEFATTI NEL PROCESSO DI SOGGETTIVAZIONE.

Abstract

This research aims at exploring the identity path of children of foreign parents who represent a “bridge” generation between their culture of origin and the culture of the country of their birth. The study will focus in particular on the process of teenagers asserting their subjectivity through a continuous negotiation between their emotional reference models and different symbolic values. The assumption of this work is to show how the identity push, which results from the adolescence evolutionary push combined with the double cultural background, could increase the drive for social success. Teenagers of second generations, in other words, are looking for a double recognition: on the one hand they want to access the adult world on the other they want to be recognized as member of the society where they live. This double set of aims results in a stronger motivation for social success. Two different theoretical approaches, cultural psychology and psychoanalysis, will be combined for this purpose, more specifically the relation between the person and the culture will be analyzed looking at the intertwining of the personal and relational psychological dimensions. As for the practical cases, this research will focus on teenagers who are enrolled in schools, born in Italy or moved to Italy for family reunion, and who attained good results at school.