Governing poor youth in Latin America: normativity and affectivity in street-level bureaucracies

Based on two ethnographic studies conducted within social projects, one implemented in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the other in a low-income neighbourhood in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, this article analyses contemporary forms of poverty governance in Latin America that focus on young people living in conditions of vulnerability. Our analytical axis is a recurring yet underexplored feature in the literature on frontline bureaucracies: the social proximity between those who implement interventions and those who are targeted by them. We argue that the everyday practices, moral frameworks, and perceptions of local state agents embody a versatile model of governance, as they shift between representing the state and representing the community, between distance and closeness. This oscillation often leads agents to invoke their shared origins with young people and their own ‘successful’ trajectories to present themselves as good examples. While each case has its specificities, both highlight the hybrid character of these practices, showing that normativity and affectivity are not opposed but intertwined in efforts to govern poor youth.