At the beginning of the 1990s, the potential for change in society, the modernization of society, was associated with the younger generations' entering into a "new life." This article focuses on what the younger generations bring with them to the socialization process, and the characteristics of the socialization of young people in the framework of institutions, in the sphere of education, work life, and family. Of particular interest is the small but important segment of young people described in research as the "most active" and the "most advanced" segment, oriented toward "success" and achieving it. This group of young people, generally urban and high-income, with an attendant high regard for themselves, perceives itself as representing the "norm" and setting the guidelines not only for the young but for society as a whole. This is the way a specific social morphology of society arises, when "being young," an ascriptive characterization, represents the most essential condition and resource for achievement. These young people see their own way of life as a model for achievement, an example that demonstrates to "all the others," including groups of young people in the provinces, what they must (and can) strive for. This is why young people can be seen as "a society within society," structured in the same way as the larger society as a whole, with its own center and periphery, its own "social swamp." These are young people who have mastered and established a way of urban life that is new to the country. (Contains 16 tables, 12 notes and 2 footnotes.) [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.]