This paper draws on ideas and research in youth studies in order to compare and con trast three approaches to the notion of social agency. The paper charts how youth stud ies commentators have generally relied upon either a 'deterministic' or a 'voluntaristic' conception of social action in explaining the life worlds of young people. It is argued that a 'contextual' understanding of youth experience provides a better appreciation of how youth agency is constructed by and interfaces with social structures.
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