Description
This book explores the relationship between youth labour market marginality and political participation, focusing on the example of Portugal and the role played by austerity policies in shaping patterns of activism. Through integrating primary and secondary empirical evidence with key ideas from classical and contemporary Sociology, the authors illustrate some of the key features of youth unemployment and job precariousness, also highlighting trends in formal and informal activist activities. Central to Youth Unemployment and Job Precariousness is the argument that following the onset of the economic crisis, there has been the birth of what we the authors term ‘an austerity generation’, comprised of young people facing difficulties in the labour market and uncertain futures. The book also highlights the difficulties young people have in making a political response to austerity, as well as their hopes for the future, including the need to raise consciousness about youth labour market marginalization and to return to more accountable forms of democracy. David Cairns, Nuno de Almeida Alves, Ana Alexandre and Augusta Correia 1. Introduction 2. Austerity Generation 3. Historical Legacy and the Austerity Counter-Revolution 4. Being Unemployed and Precarious 5. Politicized Youth: Participation in the Austerity Era 6. Protest Youth: Portugal and the Anti-Austerity Protest Cycle 7. ‘Brain Drain’, ‘Brain Circulation’ and the Austerity Generation 8. Conclusion: The Frustration of Youth in the Austerity Era
