In recent decades, the concept of adultcentrism has gained increasing visibility in Latin American scholarship on childhood, youth, and education. However, despite its growing circulation, the concept is often used ambiguously, functioning more as an ethical label than as a precise analytical category. This ambiguity limits its usefulness for examining intergenerational power relations within educational institutions and policies.

This paper draws on doctoral research in Sociology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and develops a critical conceptual review of adultcentrism within Latin American academic literature. The study traces the genealogy of the concept from its early formulations as a perceptual bias in adult interpretations of childhood to its contemporary reconceptualization in Latin American critical scholarship as a structural system of generational domination.

Building on contributions from the sociology of childhood, decolonial perspectives, and critical educational theory, the paper analyzes how adultcentrism operates simultaneously as an epistemic framework, an institutional logic, and a relational structure shaping interactions between adults and children within educational contexts.

The article proposes a situated definition of adultcentrism that integrates its symbolic, institutional, and relational dimensions, with particular attention to the intersections between generational hierarchies, coloniality, and gendered power relations in Latin America. By clarifying the analytical scope of the concept, the paper aims to provide a conceptual foundation for future empirical research examining how adult-centered logics are reproduced and contested within educational policy and school practices.

Authors:
Leslie Karen Booth S., Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile

About the Presenter(s)
Leslie Booth is a PhD candidate in Sociology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Her interests include youth participation, educational policy, and democratic education. Her current research examines adultcentrism and youth voice in schools.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lbooths

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