Abstract
Based on ethnographic fieldwork among young people in Hanoi, the article explores the role of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the youth branch of the Communist Party of Vietnam, in the formal organization of youth in contemporary, urban Vietnam. The aim of the article is to examine the institutional paradox of the organization and the way in which inherent processes of social in– and exclusion are related to the nation–building project in which the youth is attributed a key role. I argue that while the practices and logics of the Youth Union imply a sorting out of young people at the individual level, youth as a social and generational category is a significant object of symbolic investment for political leaders.
