Engaging and Resisting the Law During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Young People's Production of Legality through Class and Gender

The study explores the relationship between young people and the law in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the legal consciousness of those who, due to their social position, experience a potential condition of marginality. The aim is to understand young people's legal consciousness and explore the social mechanisms that allow for different experiences of law and legal norms. The theoretical framework - based on legal consciousness theory (Ewick, Silbey 1998) - is complemented by the neo-Bourdieusian approach to the production of class and gender (Sayer 2005, 2011, Skeggs 2005) and Douglas’ analysis of cultures of risks (Douglas, Wildavsky 1982). Such a theoretical approach provides the conceptual tools for analyzing the mechanisms of production of legality within specific social, institutional, and relational contexts through the interplay of socially situated material, cultural resources, and active reflexive practices. The biographical profiles we present to illustrate such processes are extracted from discursive interviews with 70 young people of low family cultural capital levels and migratory backgrounds. They show how, in similar socio-cultural conditions, the institutional contexts in which young people enact their reflexive practices may lead to different experiences of law and state authority. Such results have practical implications as they highlight the critical mediation role of institutional contexts in constructing the experience of legality. Policies aiming at including marginalized young people in schools and other institutional contexts and interventions promoting a positive view of differences should be informed by the awareness of their impact on people’s values, perceptions, and attitudes toward the law and legal institutions.