La jeunesse française : paradoxes et polarisations

Abstract

This paper aims at portraying an overall picture of young people’s condition in France. In an attempt to provide an overview of the social changes that are occurring in their lives, it endeavours to highlight the main features of contemporary youth. First, this paper draws on the perspective of the regimes of youth transitions in Europe (Walther 2006), in order to illustrate the specificity of the French case. It then takes a distinctive position in the analysis of the recent important shifts by exploring the paradoxes that shape the lived experiences of young French people, especially the dialectic between their autonomy and dependency. Finally, the increasing divergence of the paths to adulthood between educated and uneducated young people is explored, using the two relevant examples of the transition from school to work and the process of leaving parental home.