In Transition … Where to? Rethinking Life Stages and Intergenerational Relations of Italian Youth

Bibliographic Data

ID17820128
AuthorsSveva Magaraggia (0000-0003-1923-8353, University of Milano-Bicocca, corresponding author), Sebastiano Benasso (0000-0002-8726-4564, University of Genoa, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume9
Issue1
Pages7-7
Publication date2019-01-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocieties (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2075-4698 • E-ISSN: 2075-4698
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/soc9010007
OpenAlexW2910141259
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited34

This article wants to contribute to the ongoing debate within youth studies about the frameworks and concepts that inform research on the meanings of and transitions into adulthood. It aims to contribute to debates about the changing nature of life stages and the need for new conceptual categories and definitions of adulthood and of intergenerational relations. Thus, the first question that drives our reflections is: How do the radical transformations implied in the transition to adulthood pathway change the metaphors used to describe it, the ways of defining adulthood itself, and the scope for mutual recognition amongst different generations? Indeed, intergenerational relationships acquire more complexity in a framework in which a) structural factors like the precarisation of the labour market and the aging population heighten reciprocal interdependence and b) changes in the life-course patterns distance the different generations, especially in terms of biographical sense-making. These theoretical reflections arise from empirical work done in Northern Italy, with thirty-something people who are struggling with a prolonged and de-standardised transition process, negotiating “new adult roles”, particularly in the field of parenthood). This complex transition is significant and widespread in Italian context that, as part of the group of Southern welfare states, has low levels of welfare provision and high reliance on the family as a form of support

Conceptual framework · Developmental psychology · Geography · Life course approach · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Population · Reciprocal · Social science · Sociology · Welfare · Welfare state · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender Studies · Psychology · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics

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