Youth in Times of Social Change

Abstract

The three studies reviewed in this article all deal with the socialisation of children and teenagers at times of social change. Since 1990, there has been significant interest in research on the socialisation of youth in former East Germany. On the one hand, scholars have been interested in researching the ways in which East German youth adapts (or fails to adapt) to West German ideas-e.g, there has been talk of being “traumatised by a turn toward individualism” which many children and teenagers are said to have experienced, of increasing violence among youth, and of a “lost future” for women and girls. On the other hand, adults attempt time and again to give a name to youth’s value systems and orientations (many of which these adults consider as deficient) such as, “loss of value systems,” “lack of interest in politics,” and “inability to commit.” The three studies can be located in a long-standing tradition of research on youth socialisation, on youth’s perspectives and life worlds.