Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Young people, between policies and politics

  • Review Article
  • Published:
French Politics Aims and scope

Abstract

Plenty of studies deal with young people. Economists on the one hand have a long tradition of analyzing youth unemployment, while sociologists have institutionalized the sub-discipline of sociology of youth, also called “youth studies.” Youth sociologists have shown to what extent the transition to adulthood has been postponed and transformed, leading to this new period of life that is “youth.” Only recently have political scientists begun to take into account this metamorphosis of the life course. In this article, I review studies on youth transitions from the comparative politics perspective. First, I will present the varieties of policies that structure these youth transitions. Second, I will analyze work on the politics of such transitions that try to identify their causes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Vanhuysse (2013) has also elaborated an index in order to measure intergenerational justice.

  2. More focused on student support and students’ experiences in comparative perspective, see also Antonucci (2016), Charles (2015), and Garritzmann (2016).

  3. This idea of “familialization” of citizenship comes from the feminist literature on the welfare state; see, for instance, Orloff (1993).

  4. This idea echoes Patricia Loncle’s analysis of youth as a “symbolic” category (2003, 2010).

References

  • Aguilera, T. 2017. Gouverner les illégalismes urbains. Les politiques publiques face aux squats et aux bidonvilles dans les régions de Paris et de Madrid. Paris: Dalloz.

    Google Scholar 

  • Albacete, G.G. 2014. Young people’s political participation in Western Europe: Continuity or generational change?. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allmendinger, J. 1989. Educational systems and labor market outcomes. European Sociological Review 5(3): 231–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allmendinger, J., and S. Leibfried. 2003. Education and the welfare state: The four worlds of competence production. Journal of European Social Policy 13(1): 63–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ansell, B.W., and J. Gingrich. 2013. A tale of two trilemmas: Varieties of higher education and the service economy. In The political economy of the service transition, ed. A. Wren, 195–224. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Antonucci, L. 2016. Student lives in crisis. Deepening inequality in times of austerity. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armingeon, K., and G. Bonoli (eds.). 2006. The politics of post-industrial welfare states: Adapting post-war social policies to new social risks. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beramendi, P., S. Häusermann, H. Kitschelt, and H. Kriesi (eds.). 2015. The politics of advanced capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billari, F. 2004. Becoming an adult in Europe: A macro(/micro)-demographic perspective. Demographic Research, Special 3: 15–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birnbaum, S., T. Ferrarini, K. Nelson, and J. Palme. 2017. The generational welfare contract: Justice, institutions and outcomes. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Pub.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonoli, G. 2005. The politics of the new social policies: Providing coverage against new social risks in mature welfare states. Policy and politics 33(3): 431–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonoli, G. 2010. The political economy of active labor-market policy. Politics and Society 38(4): 435–457.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonoli, G., and D. Natali (eds.). 2012. The politics of the new welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. 1980. Questions de sociologie, 143–154. Paris: Editions de Minuit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breen, R. 2005. Explaining cross national variation in youth unemployment. Market and institutional factors. European Sociological Review 21(2): 125–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breen, R., and M. Buchmann. 2002. Institutional variation and the position of young people: A comparative perspective. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 580(1): 288–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchmann, M. 1989. The script of life in modern society: Entry into adulthood in a changing world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchmann, M.C., and I. Kriesi. 2011. Transition to adulthood in Europe. Annual Review of Sociology 37(1): 481–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busemeyer, M.R. 2015. Skills and inequality. Partisan politics and the political economy of education reforms in Western welfare states. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busemeyer, M.R., A. Goerres, and S. Weschle. 2009. Attitudes towards redistributive spending in an era of demographic ageing: The rival pressures from age and income in 14 OECD countries. Journal of European Social Policy 19(3): 195–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busemeyer, M.R., and C. Trampusch (eds.). 2012. The political economy of collective skill formation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles, N. 2015. Enseignement supérieur et justice sociale. Sociologie des expériences étudiantes en Europe. Paris: La Documentation française.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chauvel, L. 2010. Le destin des générations. Structure sociale et cohortes en France du XXe siècle aux années 2010. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chauvel, L. 2016. La spirale du déclassement: Essai sur la société des illusions. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chevalier, T. 2016a. Varieties of youth welfare citizenship. Towards a two-dimension typology. Journal of European Social Policy 26: 3–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chevalier, T. 2016b. Citoyennetés socio-économiques des jeunes et stratégies de croissance: Suède, Allemagne, Royaume-Uni, France. Revue française des affaires sociales 5: 213–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Côté, J.E. 2014. Towards a new political economy of youth. Journal of Youth Studies 17(4): 527–543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Côté, J.E. 2016. A new political economy of youth reprised: Rejoinder to France and Threadgold. Journal of Youth Studies 19(6): 852–868.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalton, R.J. 2004. Democratic challenges, democratic choices. The erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupuy, C., and C. Halpern. 2009. Les politiques publiques face à leurs protestataires. Revue française de science politique 59(4): 701–722.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmenegger, P., S. Häusermann, B. Palier, and M. Seeleib-Kaiser (eds.). 2012. The age of dualization: The changing face of inequality in deindustrializing societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G. 1990. The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G. (ed.). 2002. Why we need a new welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G. 2015. Welfare regimes and social stratification. Journal of European Social Policy 25(1): 124–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferragina, E., M. Seeleib-Kaiser, and T. Spreckelsen. 2015. The four worlds of «welfare reality»—Social risks and outcomes in Europe. Social policy and Society 14(2): 287–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrera, M. 1996. The “Southern model” of welfare in social Europe. Journal of European Social Policy 6(1): 17–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • France, A., and S. Threadgold. 2016. Youth and political economy: Towards a Bourdieusian approach. Journal of Youth Studies 19(5): 612–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galland, O. 1990. Un nouvel âge de la vie. Revue française de sociologie 4: 529–550.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gangl, M. 2001. European patterns of labour market entry. A dichotomy of occupationalized vs. non-occupationalized systems? European Societies 3(4): 471–494.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garonna, P., and P. Ryan. 1989. Le travail des jeunes, les relations professionnelles et les politiques sociales dans les économies avancées. Formation Emploi 25: 78–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garritzmann, J.L. 2016. The political economy of higher education finance. The politics of tuition fees and subsidies in OECD countries, 1945–2015. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garritzmann, J.L., M.R. Busemeyer, and E. Neimanns. 2018. Public demand for social investment: New supporting coalitions for welfare state reform in Western Europe? Journal of European Public Policy 25(6): 844–861.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilens, M. 2012. Affluence and influence. Economic inequality and political power in America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginn, J. 1993. Grey power: Age-based organisations’ response to structured inequalities. Critical Social Policy 13(38): 23–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goerres, A. 2009. The political participation of older people in Europe. The Greying of our democracies. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goerres, A., and M. Tepe. 2010. Age-based self-interest, intergenerational solidarity and the welfare state: A comparative analysis of older people’s attitudes towards public childcare in 12 OECD countries. European Journal of Political Research 49: 818–851.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillemard, A.-M. (ed.). 2008. Où va la protection sociale?. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, P.A., and D. Soskice (eds.). 2001. Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausermann, S., and H. Schwander. 2013. Who is in and who is out? A risk-based conceptualization of insiders and outsiders. Journal of European Social Policy 23(3): 248–269.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinz, W.R. 2000. Youth transitions and employment in Germany. International Social Science Journal 52(164): 161–170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber, E., and J.D. Stephens. 2001. Development and crisis of the welfare state: Parties and policies in global markets. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. 1977. The silent revolution: Changing values and political styles among western publics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iversen, T., and J.D. Stephens. 2008. Partisan politics, the welfare state, and three worlds of human capital formation. Comparative Political Studies 41(4–5): 600–637.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, P. 2018. Three notes on a political economy of youth. Journal of Youth Studies 21: 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knijn, T. 2012. New social risks for young adults: A conceptual framework. In Work, family policies and transitions to adulthood in Europe, ed. T. Knijn, 3–16. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohli, M. 1986. The world we forgot: A historical review of the life course. In Later life: The social psychology of ageing, ed. V.W. Marshall, 271–303. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlrausch, B. 2009. A ticket to work: Policies for the young unemployed in Britain and Germany. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kriesi, H., E. Grande, R. Lachat, M. Dolezal, S. Bornschier, and T. Frey. 2008. West European politics in the age of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefresne, F. 2003. Les jeunes et l’emploi. Paris: La Découverte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lesnard, L., A.-S. Cousteaux, F. Chanvril, and V. Le Hay. 2016. Do transitions to adulthood converge in Europe? An optimal matching analysis of work–family trajectories of men and women from 20 European countries. European Sociological Review 32(3): 355–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loncle, P. 2003. L’action publique malgré les jeunes. Les politiques de jeunesse en France de 1870 à 2000. Paris: L’Harmattan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loncle, P. 2010. Politiques de jeunesse: Les défis majeurs de l’intégration. Rennes: PUR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, J. 2006. Age in the welfare state: The origins of social spending on pensioners, workers, and children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maggini, N. 2017. Young people’s voting behaviour in Europe: A comparative perspective. London: Palgrave McMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mansbridge, J. 2003. Rethinking representation. American Political Science Review 97(4): 515–528.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marques, P., and I. Salavisa. 2017. Young people and dualization in Europe: A fuzzy set analysis. Socio-Economic Review 15(1): 135–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, D. 1990. Institutions and labour mobility: Occupational and internal labour markets in Britain, France, Italy and West Germany. In Labour relations and economic performance, ed. R. Brunetta and C. Dell’Aringa, 414–438. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, C.J., and D. Swank. 2012. The political construction of business interests: Coordination, growth, and equality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maurice, M., F. Sellier, and J.-J. Silvestre. 1982. Politique d’éducation et organisation industrielle en France et en Allemagne. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, K.U., and U. Schoepflin. 1989. The state and the life course. Annual Review of Sociology 15: 187–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morel, N., B. Palier, and J. Palme (eds.). 2012. Towards a social investment welfare state? Ideas, polices and challenges. Bristol: The Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller, W., and M. Gangl. 2003. Transitions from education to work in Europe: The integration of youth into EU labour markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muxel, A. 2001. L’expérience politique des jeunes. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muxel, A. 2010. Avoir 20 ans en politique: Les enfants du désenchantement. Paris: Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris, P. (ed.). 1999. Critical citizens: Global support for democratic government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris, P. 2011. Democratic deficit: Critical citizens revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD. 2010. Off to a good start? Jobs for youth. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orloff, A.S. 1993. Gender and the social rights of citizenship: The comparative analysis of gender relations and welfare states. American Sociological Review 58(3): 303–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palier, B. (ed.). 2010. A long goodbye to Bismarck? The politics of welfare reform in continental Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peugny, C., and C. Van de Velde. 2013. Repenser les inégalités entre générations. Revue française de sociologie 54(4): 641–662.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, P. 1993. When effect becomes cause: Policy feedback and political change. World Politics 45(04): 595–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierson, P. 2000. Increasing returns, path dependence, and the study of politics. American Political Science Review 94(2): 251–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rovny, A.E. 2014. The capacity of social policies to combat poverty among new social risk groups. Journal of European Social Policy 24: 405–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, P., P. Garonna, and R.C. Edwards (eds.). 1991. The problem of youth: The regulation of youth employment and training in advanced economies. London: Macmillan Academic and Professional, Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shanahan, M.J. 2000. Pathways to adulthood in changing societies: Variability and mechanisms in life course perspective. Annual Review of Sociology 26: 667–692.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streeck, W. 1991. On the institutional conditions of diversified quality production. In Beyond Keynesianism, ed. E. Matzner, W. Streeck, 21–61. Aldershot: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sukarieh, M., and S. Tannock. 2016. On the political economy of youth: A comment. Journal of Youth Studies 19(9): 1281–1289.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor-Gooby, P. 2004. New risks, new welfare: The transformation of the European welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tepe, M., and P. Vanhuysse. 2009. Are aging OECD welfare states on the path to gerontocracy? Journal of Public Policy 29(01): 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tepe, M., and P. Vanhuysse. 2010. Elderly bias, new social risks and social spending: Change and timing in eight programmes across four worlds of welfare, 1980–2003. Journal of European Social Policy 20(3): 217–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiberj, V. 2012. La politique des deux axes: Variables sociologiques, valeurs et votes en France (1988–2007). Revue française de science politique 62(1): 71–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiberj, V. 2013. Les temps changent, renouvellement générationnel et évolutions politiques en France. Revue française de sociologie 54(4): 741.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiberj, V. 2017. Les citoyens qui viennent: Comment le renouvellement générationnel transforme la politique en France. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Velde, C. 2008. Devenir Adulte: Sociologie comparée de la jeunesse en Europe. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Kersbergen, K. 1995. Social capitalism: A study of Christian democracy and the welfare state. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Kersbergen, K., and P. Manow (eds.). 2009. Religion, class coalitions, and welfare states. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhuysse, P. 2013. Intergenerational justice in aging societies. A cross-national comparison of 29 OECD countries. Gutersloh: Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhuysse, P. 2015. Aging electorates, intergenerational fairness and pro-elderly policy bias: A survey of research in comparative politics. E-Pùblica 2(2): 99–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhuysse, P., and A. Goerres (eds.). 2012. Ageing populations in post-industrial democracies: Comparative studies of policies and politics. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdier, E. 2001. La France a t elle changé de régime d’éducation? Formation Emploi 76: 11–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdier, É. 2008. L’éducation et la formation tout au long de la vie: Une orientation européenne, des régimes d’action publique et des modèles nationaux en évolution. Sociologie et sociétés 40(1): 195–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verdier, E. 2013. Lifelong learning regimes versus vocational education and training systems in Europe: The growing hybridisation of national models. In The dynamics and social outcomes of education systems, ed. J.G. Janmaat, M. Duru-Bellat, A. Green, and P. Méhaut, 70–93. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, C., and R. Bendit. 2009. Youth policies in Europe: Towards a classification of different tendencies in youth policies in the European Union. Perspectives on European Politics and Society 10(3): 441–458.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walther, A. 2006. Regimes of youth transitions: Choice, flexibility and security in young people’s experiences across different European contexts. Young 14(2): 119–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wattenberg, M.P. 2003. Electoral turnout: The new generation gap. British Elections and Parties Review 13(1): 159–173.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford University, Oxford, UK

    Tom Chevalier

  2. Sciences Po, Centre d’études européennes et de politique comparée, 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, 75337, Paris Cedex 07, France

    Tom Chevalier

Authors
  1. Tom Chevalier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom Chevalier.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Chevalier, T. Young people, between policies and politics. Fr Polit 17, 92–109 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-018-0076-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-018-0076-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation