A New Youth? Young People, Generations and Family Life

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? 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.

Contents: Foreword, Andy Furlong; Introduction, Carmen Leccardi and Elisabetta Ruspini. Reconceptualizing Youth. New Perspectives and Challenges: Facing uncertainty. temporality and biographies in the new century, Carmen Leccardi; Coping with yo-yo-transitions. young adults' struggle for support, between family and state in comparative perspective, Andy Biggart and Andreas Walther; Individualization and the changing youth life, Sven Mørch and Helle Andersen; The sky is always falling. (un)changing views on youth in the US, Gunilla Holm, Toby Daspit and Allison J. Kelaher Young; Social changes and multicultural values of young people, Helena Helve. Young People and Relations Between Generations: Solidarity in New Zealand. parental support for children in a three-generational context, Sarah Hillcoat-Nallétamby and Arunachalam Dharmalingam; Living with parents: a research study on Italian young people and their mothers, Monica Santoro; Work and care in the life-course of young adults in the Netherlands, Manuela du Bois-Reymond and Yolanda te Poel; Daughters of the women's movement: generation conflicts and social change, Ute Gerhard. Transitions to Adulthood, Social Change and Social Exclusion: Young people and family life in Eastern Europe, Ken Roberts; Transition to adulthood in Georgia: dynamics of generational and gender roles in post-totalitarian society, Nana Sumbadze and George Tarkhan-Mouravi; Going against the tide: young lone mothers in Italy, Elisabetta Ruspini; The transitions to adulthood of young people with multiple disadvantages, Jane Parry; Growing up transgender: stories of an excluded population, Surya Monro; Index.

Carmen Leccardi is Professor of Sociology of Culture, and Elisabetta Ruspini is Lecturer in Social Research and Sociology both at the University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy.