Youth and precariousness in Spain. Beyond a waiting time

Enzo Colombo y Paola Rebughini. Youth and the politics of the present. Coping with complexity and ambivalence

Precariousness is generally understood as a negative characteristic, an absence or lack of something: skills, abilities or competences. If youth is defined as a time of preparation, a moment prior to adulthood, it leads to being interpreted as a moment of dependence, a pre-complete time. This chapter tries to distance itself from a simplistic, univocal and negative view of precariousness, to understand it also as a space and time full of activity, dynamism and creativity, for youth to experience and to put into operation new life strategies.

This chapter is divided into three parts: in the first part, the studies carried out in Spain on youth and precariousness in recent years are systematized; in the second, a more complex conception of precariousness and the methodology of this research is presented; the third deals with the different definitions that young people (precarious or not) build on normality and precariousness today through the use of narratives, experiences and metaphors, in order to better understand what they are talking about when they talk about precariousness.

Tejerina, B. (2019). Youth and precariousness in Spain. Beyond a waiting time. En E. Colombo y P. Rebughini, Youth and the politics of the present. Coping with complexity and ambivalence, pp. 88-100. London: Routledge.