Italian Youth in International Context

Italy is not a country for young people. Why? This book provides a unique and in-depth collection of empirical and theoretical material providing multiple answers to this question whilst investigating the living conditions of young people in Italy today.
By bringing together a variety of approaches and methods, the authors of this collection analyze Italian youth through the lenses of three dimensions: 'Activism, participation and citizenship', 'Work, Employment and Careers' and 'Moves, Transitions and Representations'. These dimensions are the analytical building blocks for challenging stereotypes and unveiling misinterpretations and taken-for-granted assumptions that portray young people in Italy as selfish, 'choosy', and unwilling to make sacrifices, commit and manage an independent life. These prejudices often underplay the role of constraints they are facing in the transition to adulthood.
Studying Italian youth, therefore, not only allows us to capture their peculiar characteristics but also to reflect more broadly on the conceptual toolbox we need in order to understand contemporary youth more generally. By doing so, the volume aims to contribute to international discussion on the youth condition in Europe.

Valentina Cuzzocrea is assistant professor (tenure track) in sociology at the University of Cagliari (Italy). In 2018, she coedited with B.G. Bello the special issue 'Making space for youth in Contemporary Italian Studies' in Journal of Modern Italian Studies. Barbara Giovanna Bello is postdoc in sociology of law at the University of Milan. She is a trainer in the area of human rights, lawyer and mediator. Her research interests cover intersectionality, antidiscrimination law, legislative effectiveness and youth. In 2018, she co-edited with Valentina Cuzzocrea the special issue 'Making space for youth in Contemporary Italian Studies' in Journal of Modern Italian Studies. Yuri Kazepov is professor of International Urban Sociology and Compared Welfare Systems at the University of Vienna (Austria). His fields of interest are urban governance, citizenship and urban quality of life and social policies in comparative perspective.

Introduction:ITALIAN YOUTH IN CONTEXT: AN ANALYSIS THROUGH MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS ; I. ACTIVISM, PARTICIPATION AND CITIZENSHIP; 1. Young People and Politics in Italy in Times of Populism; 2. When Millennials Protest: Youth Activism in Italy; 3. Discourses and Practices of Citizenship Among Young People of Different Ethnic Backgrounds Living in Italy; 4. Strategy, Performance and Gender: An Interactionist Understanding of Young Activists within the Italian LGTB Movement and the Catholic Countermovement; II. WORK, EMPLOYMENT AND CAREERS; 5. The Social Investment Challenge and Young Italians; 6. The Synchrony of Temporary Young Workers: Employment Discontinuity, Income Discontinuity, and New Social Inequalities in Italy; 7. Young Graduates' Access to the Labour Market: Cumulative or Trade Off Effects Between Occupational Level, Contracts and Wages; 8. When Age is Academically Constructed: The Endless Status of 'Young Researchers' in Italy; III. MOVES, TRANSITIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS; 9. Young Italians: Individualization, Uncertainty and Reconquesting the Future; 10. Pathways toward Adulthood in Times of Crisis: Reflexivity, Resources and Agency Among Young Neapolitans; 11. From South to North: Internal Student Migration in Italy; 12. Becoming an Adult in the New Millennium: How the Transition to Adulthood is Changed.