Summary: | The purpose of this study is to examine how adolescents can participate and have influence in the society, by making obstacles and opportunities that are considered central for their possibilities to power visible. National and international research indicates that adolescents opportunities to participation and influence are limited by the structures of society. A qualitative method was chosen, in which group interviews were made with 14 youths in development areas in Örebro. Theories are presented which constitute tools for analysis of the obtained results and has been chosen based on power- and participation perspective. An analytical model has been used to illuminate what kind of participation adolescents have in different parts of the society, where the concepts from the theoretical perspectives, power and participation are inserted. The study shows that the youth today wants to participate and have influence but are limited of obstacles related to their age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and residential area. The study illuminates these obstacles caused by the existing power structures in society and determines what kind of participation; actual, - sense of- and theoretical, adolescent may obtain at different levels in the society.
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