The Youth Divide - Diverging Paths to Adulthood (Electronic book text)

Young people's transitions into adulthood have changed in recent years. Patterns of entry into the labour market, establishing an independent home and starting a family, have all responded to changes in education, labour market opportunities, the housing market, and welfare support. But they have not changed for all young people in the same ways. Since 1997, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported a programme of research exploring the nature and extent of these changes, and their implications for young people, parents and policy makers. In this report, Gill Jones, Professor of Sociology at Keele University, draws on the findings from 26 JRF-supported projects to summarise current patterns of transition to adulthood, and considers the ways in which these have changed. This report raises important issues for policy and practice. At a time when the major policy thrust is to combat social exclusion, the report shows how difficult this will be. The overwhelming finding is that young people are becoming increasingly sharply divided, between those who have and those who do not. Despite investment in education and training, inequality continues and becomes more extreme. Polarisation of experience occurs in every aspect of transition to adulthood.