Sortir de la rue : une lutte pour la reconnaissance à l’heure de l’individualisme avancé

This article presents the results of a research analyzing the processes that street youth use to exit street life in Montreal. The results of this research show that these processes are a form of struggle by the street youth to gain recognition in the current context of growing individualization. In this context, the attempts of youth for the appropriation of a social place can take unusual forms, such as street appropriations and street exits. Aspiring to a certain form of normality, the interviewed youth built relationships more or less associated to street life. They used the recognition manifestations they gained in order to advance the processes of their exit from street life, which should be understood as a process to reposition their identities. The results also show that the sense that the street youth attribute to these recognition manifestations is heavily influenced by the parental recognition forms experienced during childhood