Barbara Stauber

Informal Networks in Youth Transitions in West Germany: Biographical Resource or Reproduction of Social Inequality?

This article deals with informal networks and their role in young peoples strategies of coping with the uncertainties of transitions to work. The underlying hypothesis is that informal networks have a high potential in this regard that, however, is strongly differentiated according to class and education. Drawing on West German data from the framework of a European research project, the transitions of young people with ‘choice biographies’ are compared with those of young people with low resources and at risk of disengaging with the transition system. The question extends to asking whether or not policy interventions for so-called ‘disadvantaged youth’ can compensate for these disadvantages by building and reinforcing network structures that bridge the gap between peer relationships and the more formal world of education, training and the labour market.

Motivation in transition

This article explores the subject of motivation in young people’s transitions to work, which has become a crucial issue for youth and educational policies throughout Europe, in response to problems of young people leaving school early or later drop-out and withdrawal. While young people’s disengagement means that educational and career services have difficulty staying in contact with them, findings from a recent research project show, in an exemplary way, how disengaged young people can be re-motivated to develop a proactive attitude towards their transitional biographies. This research identifies various modes of (biographical) participation as a prerequisite for such motivational change.

Introduction: Young Adults in Europe — Transitions, Policies and Social Change

Discourses on transitions between youth and adulthood have always represented societies’ concern with social integration and stability in general. The fact that since the 1980s the discussion on youth transitions has not ceased reflects concerns about the future of both young people and the societies as a whole. Even if there is much discussion and controversy about the life and living conditions of contemporary young people, youth research agrees that the transition from youth to adulthood is not self-evident anymore for the individuals who have to make it (Hagestad, 1991; Cote & Allahar, 1994; Cavalli & Galland, 1995; Furlong & Cartmel, 1997). It is also quite evident that in societies that are organised around work and employment these discourses are reduced to the transitions from school to work. Entering the labour market has become a highly de-standardised status passage involving much uncertainty for the individuals. Will they find a job? And if so when? Will they find the job they want? Will they be able to keep that job or will they be forced to do job-hopping? Do they want a job at all? This has structural foundations in the drastic changes that have taken place in the labour markets as well as in the individuals‘ orientations. Consequently, most societies have identified the labour market integration of young people as being of high relevance for the maintenance of social cohesion. Education, training and employment policies have in some countries been diversified and revised fundamentally; in others funding for these areas has been increased. Most states have introduced youth training schemes and a variety of other measures for further education and re-training, as well as adapting their youth legislation (Furlong, 2001).

All different, all equal?

Was passiert eigentlich, wenn Expertlnnen aus verschiedenen Regionen Europas einen Diskurs uber Strukturen und Prozesse veranderter Ubergange in einen sozial integrierten Erwachsenenstatus initiieren? Womit last es sich begrunden, das eine solche Auseinandersetzung sinnvoller in einem europaischen als in einem nationalen Rahmen zu fuhren ist? Welches sind die Anforderungen an die Gestaltung eines solchen Diskurses, welche methodologischen Konsequenzen ergeben sich daraus? Wie wirkt es sich aus, das der gemeinsame Oberbegriff ‚Junge Erwachsene‘ aus einer spezifischen (in diesem Falle der deutschen) Perspektive vorgegeben wird?

Access to and Accessibility of Education: An Analytic and Conceptual Approach to a Multidimensional Issue

This article presents analytical considerations for the discussion of issues of access to education and inequality. It first sharpens the concept of access and inequality by pointing to the interplay of structure and agency as well as to processes of social differentiation in which differences are constructed. This implies a critical view on “access” not as something that is simply given in educational systems or as something students “have.” Referring to interactional and intersectional considerations, the more comprehensive concept of “accessibility” is suggested, which points to the process of making education accessible. Second, the chapter distinguishes and discusses four levels of analysis to be considered, while providing a review of the existing research and putting into context the research findings of the European research project GOETE. In the concluding section, accessibility is discussed as requiring a multidimensional and multidisciplinary theoretical approach.

Jugendkulturelle Selbstinszenierungen und (geschlechter-)biographische Relevanzen

Welche biographischen Spuren hinterlassen jugendkulturelle Einbindungen im weiteren Lebensverlauf? Welche Spuren hinterlasst jugendkulturelles Engagement, ein entsprechender Habitus, ein entsprechender Style und entsprechende Praferenzen in den Biographien junger (oder dann nicht mehr ganz so junger) Frauen und Manner?

Transdisziplinäre Jugendforschung: Ein neuer Anlauf zu einer integrativen Forschungsperspektive

In diesem Beitrag wird es darum gehen, den mit dem Stichwort „Transdisziplinaritat“ angestosenen Versuch einer integrativen Forschungsperspektive in der Geschichte der Jugendforschung zu verorten und exemplarisch seinen Nutzen zu diskutieren. Nach einer vorlaufigen Klarung des Verstandnisses von Transdisziplinaritat im Kontext von Jugendforschung wird aufgezeigt, dass dieser erneute Anlauf auf Traditionslinien und Vorganger zuruckgreifen kann, von denen einige kurz benannt werden. Sodann wird am Beispiel des in Deutschland und speziell in der Sozialpadagogik derzeit prominenter werdenden handlungstheoretischen Konzepts von „Agency“ das Potential verdeutlicht, das im transdisziplinaren Bezug auf forschungsrelevante Konzepte liegt. Dieses wird darin gesehen, dass durch den transdisziplinaren Bezug solche Konzepte entgegen einer disziplinaren „Schliesung“ offen gehalten werden konnen, sprich: eher der Gefahr widerstehen, normativ vereinnahmt oder inhaltlich eng gefuhrt zu werden.

Jugendkulturell geprägter Protest: Eine Reflexion zum Zusammenhang von Solidarität und anderen Strategien gegen die Entfremdung. Oder: Solidarität ist auch da drin, wo sie nicht draufsteht

„Am I my Brother’s keeper?“ (Bauman 2000). Auf diese von Zygmunt Bauman in einem Essay zur individualisierten fluiden Gesellschaft und den aktuellen Implikationen fur die Soziale Arbeit wieder aufgeworfene Frage gibt es zwei denkbare Moglichkeiten zu antworten: Entweder, was der Frageduktus schon fast nahelegt, mit einem emporten: „Warum sollte ich?“ Oder aber mit einem verstandnislosen: „Na klar, was denn sonst?“ Bauman bezieht sich auf Levinas, wenn er den Gehalt dieser Frage ausleuchtet und sich eindeutig positioniert:

Einleitung: Ausgangsbedingungen und Perspektiven transdisziplinärer Jugendforschung – zu den Hintergründen und der Entstehung dieses Bandes

Dass Jugendforschung auf eine Verbindung des Wissens und der Forschungsmethoden unterschiedlicher Disziplinen verwiesen ist, wenn sie sachhaltige Aussagen zur Lebenssituation und der alltaglichen Lebensfuhrung Jugendlicher, die Risiken und Schwierigkeiten des Heranwachsens, uber Jugendszenen und Jugendkulturen usw. treffen will, ist prinzipiell unstrittig.

Recommendations: Integrated Transition Policies

In our conceptual framework we questioned whether a trajectory leads to social integration or is in fact misleading and demonstrated that this can only be answered with regard to the individual contexts in which transitions occur. These contexts consist of both systemic and subjective dimensions. If policies genuinely aim to prevent social exclusion in young people’s transitions to work they need to take account of the interplay between both dimensions. It was also highlighted that such an approach needs to take account of young people’s agency in terms of their active participation in shaping their transitions. This means also to provide them with learning possibilities that not only concentrate on work-related skills and qualifications but to the development of broader competencies. In this concluding chapter we want to develop recommendations for a new policy agenda for young adults’ transitions to work resulting from our comparative analysis of misleading trajectories: Integrated Transition Policies.