Freedom, Civility and Activeness. On the government of leisure self-formation of Finnish multicultural youth

Abstract

This article explores the leisure time and civic activities of ‘multicultural youth’ in Finland. The theoretic-conceptual framework is the Foucauldian governmentality approach and Foucault's four step model of the ethical self-formation of the moral subject. This toolkit exposes how the subjectivation of the multicultural youth takes place in their leisure time activities and civic action, and connects and disconnects with the desires and expectations of administration and youth workers. The leisure time subjectivation of the youth implements on the interface of their own ‘self-driven’ activities and interests and more or less programmatic governance of official youth work with its integration-related rationalities.