Socially Disadvantaged Youth: Forms of Expression and Communication in Social Networks as a Vehicle of Inclusion

Abstract

Socially disadvantaged youth are a group to which prejudices are attached which question the appropriateness of their participation, communication and language in the digital setting. From this perspective, the aim of the present research proposes to identify the forms and expressions of communication used by socially disadvantaged young people from the city of Madrid in social networks. This will be examined as a tool for the development of interpersonal and social relatedness processes, which will enable inclusion and socialisation in contemporary society. To this end, a qualitative approach was proposed which enabled a set of core memos, codes, networks and categories to be established, through which study data were interpreted. WhatsApp images and interviews conducted with 78 informants were analysed using Atlas.ti 9 software. All participants belonged to a social group characterised by circumstances of social vulnerability. Of the main findings, it should be indicated that these young people exhibit a social network use that is not limited to engagement in digital leisure but, instead, is based on the exchange of communication. For this reason, these individuals have developed their own language, a fact that highlights specific traits of the digital culture to which they belong and contributes to disproving the idea that these young people use the digital setting inappropriately.