'Disadvantaged young people': Contradictions of a socio-political concept. Reflections from a comparative European perspective

Policies against youth unemployment and the risk of social exclusion during the period of transition from school to work frequently draw on the concept of 'disadvantaged young people'. In the German system of transition, the concept of 'disadvantage' primarily points to individual deficits. This particular feature of the German system of transition is due to two reasons: first, the existence of a standardised system of vocational training which continues to lead the majority of its graduates into positions of stable employment; and second, the persistent upholding by institutions of the validity of the 'standard biography'. However, the deficit-oriented concept of disadvantage at the same time entails the 'cooling-out' of young people's motivations and hides the structural causes of youth unemployment. The article reconstructs the particular role of the concept of disadvantage in the German transition regime by comparing its particular historical development with that in other European countries (Great Britain and Italy). A second and broader European comparison yields a typology of more 'individualised' vs. more 'structural' policies, the latter being sensitive not only to young people's individual deficits but also to their structural vulnerability. Against this background, the article argues for a more reflexive way of dealing with the risks connected with biographical transitions aiming at a new balance between flexibility and security.