Youth Unemployment and Society

As societies become more technically advanced and jobs require more expertise, young people are forced into a prolonged state of social marginality. Employment during adolescence could provide significant experiences for growth into later work roles, but most societies are not equipped to provide adolescents with meaningful work experience. In Youth Unemployment and Society, historians, psychologists, economists and sociologists provide a cross-national examination of trends in youth unemployment and intervention strategies in the United States and Europe. Assessing the causes of aggregate societal unemployment rates, the authors address factors that make individuals more vulnerable to unemployment and consider the developmental consequences of this experience. The volume also examines how persistently high rates of youth unemployment affect society's values, beliefs and institutions.

Contributors; Foreword Klaus J. Jacobs; Introduction Jeylan T. Mortimer; Part I. Investment in Youth: 1. Youth, unemployment and marginality: the problem and the solution Laura E. Hess, Anne C. Petersen and Jeylan T. Mortimer; 2. Social capital, human capital and investment in youth James S. Coleman; 3. When may social capital influence children's school performance? John Modell; Reply to John Modell James S. Coleman; Reply to James S. Coleman John Modell; Part II. Macrosocial Perspectives: 4. The historical context of transition to work and youth unemployment Helmut Fend; 5. The causes of persistently high unemployment Michael White and David J. Smith; Part III. Individual Perspectives: 6. Concepts of causation, tests of causal mechanisms and implications for intervention Michael Rutter; 7. Individual differences as precursors of youth unemployment Jeylan T. Mortimer; 8. The psychosocial consequences of youth unemployment Adrian Furnham; Part IV. Social Consequences and Interventions: 9. Societal consequences of youth unemployment Hannie te Grotenhuis and Frans Meijers; 10. Social roles for youth: interventions in unemployment Stephen F. Hamilton; Part V. Implications for Research: 11. Youth: work and unemployment - a European perspective for research Hans Bertram; 12. Conclusions: social structure and psychosocial dimensions of youth unemployment Walter R. Heinz; Index.