Cool precariousness: The discursive trendinisation of youth precariousness in the spanish digital press

Abstract

This paper analyses the discursive construction around the trendinisation of youth precariousness in the Spanish digital press. Within this context, the emergence of both alternative practices and coping strategies in the field of consumption is no longer represented as a problem or a public controversy, but as a trend embedded in youth lifestyles. From a critical approach and based on a sample of 24 articles published in the digital press between 2014 and 2019, this deproblematisation was explored employing two analytical tools: Relexicalisation and reframing. The strategic replacement of certain terms by others which are less connotative affords a new frame creating a new interpretation of the phenomenon. Finally, the appeal to welfare and its presentation as an opportunity for personal transformation contributes to this naturalisation, enhancing the symbolic effectiveness of these discourses.