Rethinking the Youth Phase of the Life-course: The Case for Emerging Adulthood?

(2005) - John Bynner

Journal: Journal of Youth Studies
Link:: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13676260500431628
DOI:: 10.1080/13676260500431628
Links::
Tags:: #paper #NCDS #LifeCourse #BCS #Transition #school-to-work
Cite Key:: [@Bynner2005]

Abstract

A whole flurry of new thinking and research about young people in the USA has been stimulated by Jeffery Arnett’s theory of ‘Emerging Adulthood’. This argues for recognition of a new stage of the life-course between adolescence and adulthood reflecting the extension of youth transitions to independence brought about by globalization and technological change. Although the perspective aligns with developmental psychology’s conception of ‘stages of development’, its appeal extends across the social science disciplines and policy domains. However, the rich theorizing of the same manifestations of social change in young people’s experience in European Youth Studies appear to have been largely overlooked by Arnett. This paper attempts to redress this balance by drawing into the framework of Emerging Adulthood a wider set of theoretical concerns with structural factors and exclusion mechanisms to which (late) modern youth are subjected. The argument is exemplified by age-30 cohort comparisons across three British longitudinal studies starting in 1946, 1958 and 1970, demonstrating rising opportunities accompanied by increased social inequality. The paper concludes with a re-appraisal of the concept of youth as a phase of the late modern life-course in which the properties Arnett attributes to Emergent Adulthood are just one significant feature.

Notes

“effery Arnett’s theory of ‘Emerging Adulthood’. This argues for recognition of a new stage of the life-course between adolescence and adulthood reflecting the extension of youth transitions to independence brought about by globalization and technological change.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 367)

“In the 1980s German social scientists were referring to the extension of the socially constructed ‘youth phase’ of the life-course (Hurrelman 1988, 1989; Gaiser & Muller 1989; Zinneker 1990; Heinz 1990, 1991).” (Bynner, 2005, p. 368)

“In this theoretical framework, structural factors are seen more in terms of environmental influences and constraints in the way of life-goals rather than as shaping, in a fundamental way, roles and identities to match modern conditions.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 369)

“Their original ideas, as developed further in the work of British writers on adolescence such as Coleman (1974, 1993) and Hendry and Kloep (2002), emphasize the series of ‘focal concerns’ of adolescence*/sexual relations, peer relations and relations with parents*/producing potential identity conflicts that need to be resolved” (Bynner, 2005, p. 369)

“Another way of looking at the phenomenon of extended transition is in terms of ‘capital accumulation’. The human capital identified with educational achievement and gaining qualifications during compulsory schooling (Becker 1975) gives way in late modern society to capital accumulation through lifelong learning and Journal of Youth Studies 36” (Bynner, 2005, p. 369)

“occupational profile-building by gaining experience in a variety of occupational roles.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 370)

“Such capital accumulation becomes consolidated through the development of clear occupational career tracks, and more than anything through sustained partnerships and long-term commitments” (Bynner, 2005, p. 370)

“The two foci that moderate the concept of ‘extended transition’ are, on the one hand, stratification and, on the other, exclusion. Both are particularly prominent in Britain, which has retained traditional social structures and institutions to a much greater degree than most other European countries (Furlong & Cartmel 1997; Bynner 2001)” (Bynner, 2005, p. 370)

“Table 1 European Union transition and social change indicators” (Bynner, 2005, p. 371) Interesting to replicate this table?

“The first is that in all countries the rates and forms of transition are strongly dependent both on institutional factors (how the transition from school to work is managed) and on structural factors such as social class, gender, ethnicity and locality.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 372)

“Increasing postponement of family commitments accompanying rising human capital accumulation is strongly evident from these figures, in line with the Emerging Adulthood thesis. At the same time, the general rise in human capital (bound up with educational achievement) seems to be accompanied by depreciation in other forms of capital considered important for sustainability in economic life. Arnett makes no mention of, for example, the Robert Putnam (1999) argument that social capital in the USA has been declining steadily for years. We find comparable evidence in our cohort comparison (Bynner & Parsons 2003). Compared with the 1946 cohort, far fewer of the 30 year olds in the 1958 cohort and, particularly, in the 1970 cohort had ever been members of voluntary and community associations (from the earliest to the most recent cohort, dropping from over 60 per cent to less than 20 per cent), had ever been members of trade unions or even took the trouble to vote” (Bynner, 2005, p. 373)

“Until the 1980s failing to get qualifications was no hindrance to getting work in Britain, because the labour market absorbed virtually all such unqualified young people into the large number of unskilled jobs that existed then (Bynner 2001). In the modern labour market, opportunities for the unqualified and unskilled are more limited.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 377)

“A particular concern in Britain, with its relatively accelerated transition from school to work compared with other countries, has been with those young people who leave education at the minimum age, 16 years old, yet spend a substantial period in the following two years not in education employment or youth training (NEET).” (Bynner, 2005, p. 378)

“After controlling for qualifications and early circumstances and experience, NEET was also significantly more likely to lead to continuing NEET status and unemployment at age 21” (Bynner, 2005, p. 378)

“life-course, conception is needed (Elder 1974, 1998) that takes these structural factors*/which differ in their distribution and in their institutional mediation between countries and across time*/into account. Such an approach would move away from blanket categorization of individuals in terms of stages bounded by chronological age towards a broader conception based on a range of ‘trajectories’ (Roberts & Parsell 1989) or better ‘pathways’ (Elder 1998). These pathways chart the way that lives with common biographical features are likely to be constructed and link one ‘status passage’ to the next (Heinz 1991)*/see Raffe (2003) for a critical overview.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 378)

“‘Turning points’, as life-course theorists point out (for example, Elder 1998; Giele 2002), are central features of the life-course. They reflect the effective exercise of agency in both creating and responding to new opportunities (Heinz 1999). There can be ‘stagnant’ or ‘damaged’ transitions, where agency responds passively to adverse life circumstances; there can also be repaired and progressive transitions where agency, given the right support, can override structural disadvantage (Evans & Heinz 1994; Evans 2002). Social relations identified with family, school, leisure and workplace contexts can reinforce stagnation or motivate growth. As Giele and Elder (1998) argue, ‘Linked Lives’ is a central feature of life-course construction.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 379)

“As this paper has been at pains to stress, individualization is constrained by forces that are fundamentally social, cultural and structural in nature (Roberts et al. 1994; Furlong & Cartmel 1997; Evans 2002; C ˆ ot ́ e 2002; Stephen & Squires 2003)*/and the form these forces take and the impact they have on development are also changing with time.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 379)

“The entry points to emerging adulthood are also different depending on prior achievements and the constraints these impose on the free range of life-course plans.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 380)

“In summary, it can be misleading to present a society as changing with all elements; in effect, ‘marching in step’. We need to recognize that the traditional routes to adulthood, with far fewer signs of its emergent status, are still very much in place. Early theories of adolescence typically saw such experience as the norm for most of the population; now it is identified with a marginalized minority.” (Bynner, 2005, p. 380)

“Convincing youth theory needs to be comprehensive, and effective youth policy needs to be inclusive” (Bynner, 2005, p. 381)