E-Book Overview
"A New Youth?" provides a cross-cultural perspective on the challenges and problems posed by young people's transition to adulthood. The authors address questions such as: What are the experiences of being young in different European countries? What can we learn about the differences of being young in non-European countries? Are young people developing new attitudes towards society? What are the risks associated with the transition of youth to adulthood? Can we identify new attitudes about citizenship? And on a more general level, are there experiences and new social meanings associated with youth? The volume is comparative between various European and non-European countries in order to identify the emerging models of transition. These characteristics are connected with broader social, political and cultural changes: changes related to extended education, increasing women's participation in the labour market, changing welfare regimes, as well as changes in political regimes and in the representation and construction of individual identities and biographies, towards an increasing individualization. The work offers critical reflections in the realm of sociology of youth by providing broader understandings of the term 'youth'. The detailed analysis of new forms of marginality and social exclusion among young people offers valuable insight for policy development and political debate.
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A NEW YOUTH?
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A New Youth? Young People, Generations and Family Life
Edited by CARMEN LECCARDI and ELISABETTA RUSPINI University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy
© Carmen Leccardi and Elisabetta Ruspini 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Carmen Leccardi and Elisabetta Ruspini have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Gower House Croft Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3HR England
Ashgate Publishing Company Suite 420 101 Cherry Street Burlington, VT 05401-4405 USA
Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A new youth? : young people, generations and family life 1.Youth - Social conditions. 2.Youth - Family relationships I.Leccardi, Carmen II.Ruspini, Elisabetta 305.2'35 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A new youth? : young people, generations and family life / edited by Carmen Leccardi and Elisabetta Ruspini. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references index. ISBN 0-7546-4422-7 1. Youth--Cross-cultural studies. 2. Youth--Social conditions--21st century. 3. Youth--Attitudes. I. Leccardi, Carmen. II. Ruspini, Elisabetta. HQ796.N49 2005 305.235'09'05--dc22 2005020423 ISBN 0 7546 4422 7
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire.
Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Foreword by Andy Furlong Acknowledgements
vii ix xi xv xix
Introduction Carmen Leccardi and Elisabetta Ruspini
1
PART I: RECONCEPTUALIZING YOUTH. NEW PERSPECTIVES AND CHALLENGES 1
2
3
4
5
Facing Uncertainty. Temporality and Biographies in the New Century Carmen Leccardi
15
Coping with Yo-Yo-Transitions. Young Adults’ Struggle for Support, between Family and State in Comparative Perspective Andy Biggart and Andreas Walther
41
Individualization and the Changing Youth Life Sven Mørch and Helle Andersen
63
The Sky is Always Falling. (Un)Changing Views on Youth in the US Gunilla Holm, Toby Daspit and Al