Youth

In this article, the word youth is presented as a dangerous word as it evokes meanings that interpose a tension within the polysemy of their arguments. These meanings and analysis also confront the idea of the future, under the social policies' dismantling provoked by neoliberal governments. A vision that restricts youth to a certain period of life and sees it as universal is questioned. The understanding of youth then is expanded by exploring real lives of young people and their different social, institutional, cultural and class experiences. Based on the authors' research with the urban and rural youth of low-income families in the northeast region of Brazil, it is concluded that, despite living in a suffocating reality, young people from working class background value education, demand differentiated schools and curricula, and rebel through cultural activities or collective struggles, which allow them to reframe their “re-existence.”