Against the background of the global financial crisiswhich has left a legacyof political turmoil and a populist surge across Europe, this book could not be more timely. The contributors offer the reader a comparative understanding of youth inequalities in difficult times. Labour market, family transitions and intergenerational relationships are described and explained from a life course perspective and firmly located in an era of increasing social inequality. The editors are to be commended on pulling together such an excellent collection. Fiona Devine, Head of Alliance Manchester Business School and Professor of Sociology at The University of Manchester, UK Social change is complicated! This book brilliantly shows and explains how a new generation of young Europeans are living through the consequences of theglobal financialcrisis,recalibratingtheirexpectations andoptimisingtheir resources in ways that compound inequality. Empirically robust, theoretically nuanced and rooted in a range of European contexts, this is state of the art youth studies, providing asense of howwegot into this situation, offering the starting point for navigating a more socially just future. Rachel Thomson, Professor of Childhood & Youth Studies, University of Sussex, UK This page intentionally left blank Transitions to Adulthood Through Recession Long-running trends towards increasing inequality between the rich and poor across Europe have been exacerbated by the 2008 global financial crisis and itsaftermath.Asemploymentopportunitiesforyoungpeoplediminish andas the welfare state is pulled back, pathways to adulthood change and become more difficult to navigate. TransitionstoAdulthoodThroughRecessionconsistsofacollectionofpapers by researchers from Britain, Norway, Germany, Portugal, Italy and Greece, locating young people’s transitions to adulthood in their national social, eco- nomic and political contexts. It explores young adulthood with reference to generational continuity and change and intergenerational support. With a cross-national comparative framework, this volume highlights the importance of variations in structural contexts for young people’s transitions. Bringing together authors across sub-disciplines such as the sociology of youth,familyand kinship,classandinequalityand life-coursestudies,Transi- tions toAdulthood Through Recession will appeal to academic social scientists as well as final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in fields such as political science, sociology, youth studies, social policy, anthro- pology and psychology; and awider public readership. Sarah Irwin is Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds, UK. Ann Nilsen is Professor of Sociology at the University of Bergen, Norway. Youth, Young Adulthood and Society Series editor: Andy Furlong, University of Glasgow, UK The Youth,YoungAdulthood and Society seriesbringstogethersocialscientists from many disciplines to present research monographs and collections, seeking tofurtherresearchintoyouthinourchangingsocietiesaroundtheworldtoday. Thebooksinthisseriesadvancethefieldofyouthstudiesbypresentingoriginal, excitingresearch,withstronglytheoretically-andempirically-groundedanalysis. For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/ Youth-Young-Adulthood-and-Society/book-series/YYAS Published: Youth, Class and Everyday Struggles Steven Threadgold Youth Homelessness and Survival Sex Intimate Relationships and Gendered Subjectivities Juliet Watson Spaces of Youth Work, Citizenship and Culture in a Global Context David Farrugia Transitions to Adulthood Through Recession Youth and Inequality in a European Comparative Perspective Edited by Sarah Irwin and Ann Nilsen Forthcoming: Rethinking Young People’s Marginalisation Beyond Neo-Liberal Futures? Perri Campbell, Lyn Harrison, Chris Hickey and Peter Kelly Transitions to Adulthood Through Recession Youth and Inequality in a European Comparative Perspective Edited by Sarah Irwin and Ann Nilsen Firstpublished2018 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2018selectionandeditorialmatter,SarahIrwinandAnnNilsen; individualchapters,thecontributors. TherightofSarahIrwinandAnnNilsentobeidentifiedastheauthorsof theeditorialmaterial,andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,has beenassertedinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanation withoutintenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Names:Irwin,Sarah,1961-author.|Nilsen,Ann,author. Title:Transitionstoadulthoodthroughrecession:youthandinequalityina Europeancomparativeperspective/SarahIrwinandAnnNilsen. Description:Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork,NY:Routledge,2018.|Series: Youth,youngadulthoodandsociety|Includesbibliographicalreferences andindex. Identifiers:LCCN2017047046|ISBN9781138294288(hardback) Subjects:LCSH:Youth--Europe--Socialconditions--21stcentury.|Youth-- Europe--Economicconditions--21stcentury.|Adulthood--Europe.| Equality--Europe. Classification:LCCHQ799.E9I792018|DDC305.242094--dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017047046 ISBN:978-1-138-29428-8(hbk) ISBN:978-1-315-23168-6(ebk) TypesetinTimesNewRoman byTaylor&FrancisBooks Contents List of illustrations ix About the authors xi Acknowledgements xv 1 Understanding youth transitions in difficult times 1 SARAHIRWINANDANNNILSEN 2 Youth research meets life course terminology: The transitions paradigm revisited 17 KENROBERTS 3 Transitions from school to work in Norway and Britain among three familygenerations of working-class men 35 JULIABRANNEN,KRISTOFFERCHELSOMVOGT,ANNNILSENAND ABIGAILKNIGHT 4 How parents see their children’s future: Education, work and social change in England 55 SARAHIRWIN 5 Biography, history and place: Understanding youth transitions in Teesside 74 ROBERTMACDONALDANDTRACYSHILDRICK 6 Social inequality and the transition to education and training: The significance of family background in Germany 97 BIRGITJENTSCHANDHERWIGREITER 7 Youth transitions and generations in Portugal: Examining change between baby-boomers and millennials 115 NUNOALMEIDAALVES viii Contents 8 Young people and housing transitions: Moral obligations of intergenerational support in an Italian working-class context 137 ELENAMATTIOLIANDNICOLADELUIGI 9 Youngpeople,transitiontoadulthoodandrecessioninGreece:In search of abetter future 156 ALEXANDROSSAKELLARIOUANDALEXANDRAKORONAIOU 10 Kinship, community and the transition to adulthood: Geographical differences and recent changes in European society 176 PATRICKHEADY Index 198 Illustrations Figures 7.1 Employment of the age group 15–29 by economic sector, Portugal, 1985–2015 (%) 119 7.2 Unemployment rate of the age group 15–29, Portugal, 1983–2016 (%) 121 7.3 Proportion of employeeswith permanent contracts (age group 15–29), Portugal, 1983–2016 (%) 121 7.4 Education by age group, Portugal, 1981–2011 (%) 123 7.5 Economic activity status by age group, Portugal (%) 124 7.6 Origin of income by age group, Portugal 1981–2011 (%) 124 7.7 Family status by age group, Portugal 1981–2011 (%) 125 7.8 Age pyramids, Portugal 1970 and 2015 (%) 127 10.1 Intergenerational co-residence by European macro-region and area type 179 10.2 Total national fertility rate (2005) by mean completed family size (women born in 1965) 182 10.3 Spatial endogamy (local marriages and partnerships) by macro-region and area type 184 10.4 Spatial clustering of relatives by European macro-region and area type 185 10.5 Gendering of domestic tasks by spatial clustering of relatives 185 10.6 Ratio of children to young adults, by European macro-region and areatype 186 Tables 3.1 Grandfathers 41 3.2 Fathers 42 3.3 Sons 44 10.1 Percentages of young adults living with their parents in 2005 178