What is new in the ‘south’? Consumer culture and the vicissitudes of poor youth’s identity construction in urban Brazil

Abstract

This study analyses the specificities of youth identity construction in Brazil in the context of global transformations and the particularities of the Brazilian model of development. Poor urban Brazilian youngsters’ demands to consume, as a ‘mode of inclusion’ in society, achieve short-term gains that narrow down prospective visions of the self. A ‘logic of survival’ hypothesis is proposed to account for the process of identity construction whereby encapsulated and rigid, rather than hybridized and creative, identities are constituted. The hypothesis is illustrated with a discussion of the cases of the drug dealer, the religious fanatic and the labourer. New cultural forms of consumer culture also convey claims for recognition and justice, shown by the musical expressions coming from the peripheries of big cities. It remains to be seen whether musical and artistic expressions, as possible factors that can enhance self-respect and group solidarity among poor youth, will not be consumed just as a new item of the culture industry.