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?:abstract
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Over the course of the last two years, 2011 and 2012, youths around the world have protested
in a variety of contexts and forms. More than the various manifestations of their
protests – from political upheaval in Tunisia or Chile to violence in Syria – it is youths’
worries about their own place in society that unify them.
Even in the most divergent societies, youth are perceived as a problem group, despite
the fact that a consistent definition of what constitutes youth has been absent to date.
To base such a definition exclusively on age would be misleading: other factors, for example,
social position, would remain unconsidered. No longer children but not yet part
of the circle of adults, youths find themselves both physically and socially in a phase of
transition. For very different reasons, they rebel against established orders and authorities
and question existing boundaries and conventions. However, even under very difficult
political and economic conditions, youths only head onto the streets en masse when
they see no prospects for the transition into adult life. The forms their protests take reveal
fundamental societal processes and problems.
Young people grow up with expectations about the transition into adult life that, because
of rapid social change, can now scarcely be realized.
The lifeworlds of youths and their problems with the entry into adult life are, despite
all the differences, comparable worldwide.
The mobilization of youths and the nature of their protests are closely connected
with the socialization processes and types of cohesion within a society.
Whether and how youth are able to complete central transitions into adult life can
serve as an early warning indicator of key societal problems.
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