Changing times, changing perspectives: Reconciling ‘transition’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives on youth and young adulthood

TLDR

Shifting theoretical paradigms that emphasize reflexive life management are driving changes in the relationship between structural and cultural approaches to youth studies, blurring their distinction. This article investigates how the relationship between transitions and cultural perspectives in youth studies is evolving, tracing trends amid changing opportunity structures and proposing a social generation framework for future research. The authors analyze contemporary socio‑economic changes and shifting opportunity structures to examine how they challenge traditional interpretations of youth subjectivities. They find that transitions and cultural perspectives are converging, driven by new life‑management practices, blended contexts, emerging meanings, and a changing sense of self over time.

Abstract

This article explores the changing relationship between the ‘transitions’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives in youth studies. Changes in the relationship between the two approaches are currently being driven by shifting theoretical paradigms that place a greater weight on reflexive life management, thereby making it more difficult to maintain a theoretical distinction between structural and cultural analysis. Indeed, we argue that relationships between the two approaches are showing signs of convergence, partly as a consequence of the emergence of new ways of managing life contexts which frequently involve the blending of contexts, the search for new meanings and a changing sense of self in time. We trace the trends in the relationship between the ‘transitions’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives against the backdrop of changing opportunity structures. Focusing on contemporary contexts, we explore some of the ways in which recent socio-economic changes challenge traditional ways of interpreting subjectivities. We conclude by exploring the ways in which the sociology of youth can move forward using a social generation approach.