This study aims to analyze the understanding young people, from different places at the city of Maceió, have about the values and political beliefs that guide their practices as militants in different contexts. We conducted three focus groups with young people, from the age of 18 to 29, who are members of political, religious and cultural groups and movements. We discovered three different discourses covering topics from policy to modes of knowledge within each group. These were found to relate to their levels of understanding about the role of politics as an instrument of social transformation and the constitution of subjectivities. Despite the different life trajectories these young people and their groups have taken, we are surprised by the fact that it is through the participatory practices that express their values , that they express their aspiration to be perceived as social actors and subjects as connected to their times.
youth; political participation; culture