Abstract
Young people in contemporary Europe face not only a heightened sense of risk (Beck, 1992; Furlong and Cartmel, 2007; Taylor-Gooby, 2004), but also the looming prospect of becoming ‘the first generation to do worse than their parents’. The challenges facing young people as they navigate transitions to adulthood are therefore unprecedented in European societies. Their experiences of risks, such as labour market insecurity and social exclusion across a range of domains, have become increasingly relevant in the media and in policy debates. Since 2008, the economic crisis has intensified the risks experienced by young people in Europe and created new forms of insecurity and exclusion. The austerity measures implemented in several European countries, such as labour market reforms aimed at promoting flexible labour markets (Jessoula et al., 2010; Madsen et al., 2013) and cuts in state support for students in higher education (Callender, 2012), have contributed to this insecurity. Recent studies have shown that young people are a group that is feeling the effects of the crisis and associated austerity measures most strongly (Busch et al., 2013; Dietrich, 2013; McKee, 2012; Theodoropoulou and Watt, 2011). There is therefore a compelling need for reflection upon the efficacy of social policies for young people in times of crisis and the assumptions that underpin them, and for identifying policies that can mitigate, and indeed reverse, the effects of these new risks.
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© 2014 Myra Hamilton, Lorenza Antonucci and Steven Roberts
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Hamilton, M., Antonucci, L., Roberts, S. (2014). Introduction: Young People and Social Policy in Europe. In: Antonucci, L., Hamilton, M., Roberts, S. (eds) Young People and Social Policy in Europe. Work and Welfare in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137370525_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137370525_1
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