Education Inequalities and Political Behaviour of the Young in Greece in the 2010s 1

Abstract

In this paper we briefly address two issues related to the living conditions of\xa0youth in Greece and the way these conditions have changed during the 2010s.\xa0The first is about the educational trajectories of young Greeks which are leading\xa0to less promising prospects in the labour market and become increasingly\xa0unequal and socially selective during the crisis. The second issue is the political response of young Greeks to the crisis. There is evidence that they have been\xa0actively mobilized against austerity measures and, at the same time, they have\xa0increased their participation in the political system, both in confrontational and\xa0institutional politics. Inequalities are increasing and social mobility prospects\xa0for the young people are deteriorating. Their political response, however, is an\xa0outcome depending on many other factors with the politics of parties attractive to youngsters’ aspirations during the crisis being among the most important.