Abstract

ALMANZA AVENDANO, Ariagor Manuel; GOMEZ SAN LUIS, Anel Hortensia; GUZMAN GONZALEZ, Diego Nahúm  and  CRUZ MONTES, José Alfonso. Social representations about drug trafficking among adolescents in Tamaulipas. Región y sociedad [online]. 2018, vol.30, n.72, 00002. ISSN 2448-4849.  https://doi.org/10.22198/rys.2018.72.a846.

The aim of this article is to understand the social representations constructed by a group of adolescents of the state of Tamaulipas about drug trafficking. An intrinsic case study design was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to explore the social representation construction process. For the purpose of analyzing the thematic content the MAXQDA 11 program was used. The results show that adolescents consider drug trafficking as a criminal activity that has become more diverse, including other crimes associated with violence and harming others. This is an exploratory study, which, notwithstanding the small number of participants, recovers the voices of the adolescents immersed in communities where drug trafficking is prevalent, without participating directly in it. Likewise, it explains that young people’s involvement in drug trafficking decreases when they perceive it as a crime, developing their identity as opposed to it.

Keywords : drug trafficking; adolescence; crime; violence; social psychology; group psychology; Tamaulipas.

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