First published in 1995, the aim of this book is to review various aspects of the process of democratic transition in Hungary over the period of its first post-communist, freely elected parliament between 1990 and 1994. The studies collected in this book attempt to put them in the context of longer-term trends in Hungarian politics. Hungary offers an example of the problems of political change common to Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc but also demonstrates a relatively stable and successful transformation built on a unique experience under communist rule that helped prepare it for a market-orientated economy transition and political pluralism.

Published in 1997, this text is built around themes agreed upon for a conference which aimed to set the agenda for youth research over the next decade. These themes are: the shaping of trajectories and biographies - individualization, agency, structure; vulnerable groups excluded and included youth, polarization, marginalization; social construction of identity - identity, culture, gender, ethnicity; political and social participation and citizenship. The book brings together the work of British and Continental researchers.

First published in 1995, the aim of this book is to review various aspects of the process of democratic transition in Hungary over the period of its first post-communist, freely elected parliament between 1990 and 1994. The studies collected in this book attempt to put them in the context of longer-term trends in Hungarian politics. Hungary offers an example of the problems of political change common to Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc but also demonstrates a relatively stable and successful transformation built on a unique experience under communist rule that helped prepare it for a market-orientated economy transition and political pluralism.

The parameters within which young people live their lives have changed radically. In particular, rapid and dizzying changes to education systems and labour markets around the world have dramatically increased the complexity of the so-called youth phase .

While youth and young adulthood have developed and cohered into critical concepts in contemporary social and cultural analysis, the daunting quantity (and variable quality) of the available research exploring the many, often controversial, issues that the concepts throw up makes it difficult to discriminate the useful from the tendentious, superficial, and otiose. That is why this new four-volume collection in the highly regarded Routledge series, Critical Concepts in Sociology, is so timely. It answers the urgent need for a wide-ranging 'mini library' to provide easy access to the key items of scholarly literature, material that is often inaccessible or scattered throughout a variety of specialist journals and books.

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Youth and Young Adulthood" is supplemented with a full index, and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is destined to be valued by scholars and students, and researchers as a vital resource.

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Andy Furlong, the lead editor of this collection, is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of Glasgow. He edits the "Journal of Youth Studies" and is an adviser to the Japanese Youth Cohort Survey team.

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Levels of suffering among young people have always been much higher than governments suggest. Indeed, policies aimed at young workers have often been framed in ways that help secure conformity to a new employment landscape in which traditional securities have been progressively removed. Increasingly punitive welfare regimes have resulted in new hardships, especially among young women and those living in depressed labour markets. Framed by the ideas of Norbert Elias, Young People in the Labour Market challenges the idea that changing economic landscapes have given birth to a 'Precariat' and argues that labour insecurity is more deep-rooted and complex than others have suggested. Focusing on young people and the ways in which their working lives have changed between the 1980s recession and the Great Recession of 2008/2009 and its immediate aftermath, the book begins by drawing attention to trends already emerging in the preceding two decades. Drawing on data originally collected during the 1980s recession and comparing it to contemporary data drawn from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the book explores the ways in which young people have adjusted to the changes, arguing that life satisfaction and optimism are linked to labour market conditions. A timely volume, this book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers who are interested in fields such as Sociology, Social Policy, Management and Youth Studies.

The second and completely revised edition of the Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood draws on the work of leading academics from four continents in order to introduce up-to-date perspectives on a wide range of issues that affect and shape youth and young adulthood. It provides a multi-disciplinary overview of a dynamic field of study that offers unique insights on social change in advanced societies. It is aimed at researchers, policy-makers and advanced students on a global level. The Handbook introduces the main theoretical perspectives used within youth studies and sets out future research agendas. Each of the ten sections covers an important area of research - from education and the labour market to youth cultures, health and crime - discussing change and continuity in the lives of young people, introducing readers to some of the most important work in the field, while highlighting the underlying perspectives that have been used to understand the complexity of modern youth and young adulthood.

By tracking a group of qualified but socio-economically disadvantaged young people, this study identifies the factors which impact upon their HE careers. It examines factors that govern levels of success as well as those that impede the progress of academically able but disadvantaged young people. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to follow the progress of 395 young people from schools located in disadvantaged areas. It identifies factors that hinder their progress as well as the ways in which they overcome barriers. While there has been much recent debate on the obstacles to widening HE participation, this is the first study to follow a group of disadvantaged students through HE. Widening access to HE remains high on the political agenda with universities attempting to respond to the government's commitment to providing places for 50% of young people. The report is aimed at academics and policy makers. It will be of particular interest to people within schools and universities who are attempting to implement a wider access agenda and wish to learn more about the nature of the barriers faced by disadvantaged students.

Levels of suffering among young people have always been much higher than governments suggest. Indeed, policies aimed at young workers have often been framed in ways that help secure conformity to a new employment landscape in which traditional securities have been progressively removed. Increasingly punitive welfare regimes have resulted in new hardships, especially among young women and those living in depressed labour markets. Framed by the ideas of Norbert Elias, Young People in the Labour Market challenges the idea that changing economic landscapes have given birth to a 'Precariat' and argues that labour insecurity is more deep-rooted and complex than others have suggested. Focusing on young people and the ways in which their working lives have changed between the 1980s recession and the Great Recession of 2008/2009 and its immediate aftermath, the book begins by drawing attention to trends already emerging in the preceding two decades. Drawing on data originally collected during the 1980s recession and comparing it to contemporary data drawn from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the book explores the ways in which young people have adjusted to the changes, arguing that life satisfaction and optimism are linked to labour market conditions. A timely volume, this book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers who are interested in fields such as Sociology, Social Policy, Management and Youth Studies.

The second and completely revised edition of the Routledge Handbook of Youth and Young Adulthood draws on the work of leading academics from four continents in order to introduce up-to-date perspectives on a wide range of issues that affect and shape youth and young adulthood. It provides a multi-disciplinary overview of a dynamic field of study that offers unique insights on social change in advanced societies. It is aimed at researchers, policy-makers and advanced students on a global level. The Handbook introduces the main theoretical perspectives used within youth studies and sets out future research agendas. Each of the ten sections covers an important area of research - from education and the labour market to youth cultures, health and crime - discussing change and continuity in the lives of young people, introducing readers to some of the most important work in the field, while highlighting the underlying perspectives that have been used to understand the complexity of modern youth and young adulthood.

Reviews of the first edition

. . "Not only does the clarity of the authors writing make the book very accessible, but their argument is also illustrated throughout with a broad range of empirical material undoubtedly a strong contribution to the study of both contemporary youth and late-modern society.
. Youth Justice

. A very accessible, well-evidenced and important book It succeeds in raising important questions in a new and powerful way.
. Journal of Education and Work

. . the book will be very popular with students and with academics..The clarity of the organization, expression and argument is particularly commendable. I have no doubt that Young People and Social Change will rightly find its way onto the recommended reading lists of many in the field.
. Professor Robert MacDonald, University of Teesside "

. . A welcome update to one of the most influential and authoritative books on young people in modern societies. With a fuller theoretical explanation and drawing on a comprehensive range of studies from Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, the second edition of "Young People and Social Change" is a valuable contribution to the field. The authors examine modern theoretical interpretations of social change in relation to young people and provide an overview of their experiences in a number of key contexts such as education, employment, the family, leisure, health, crime and politics.

. . Building on the success of the previous edition, the second edition offers an expanded theoretical approach and wider coverage of empirical data to take into account worldwide developments in the field. Drawing on a wealth of research evidence, the book highlights keydifferences between the experiences of young people in different countries in the developed world.

. . "Young People and Social Change" offers a wide-ranging and up-to-date introductory text for students in sociology of youth, sociology of education, social stratification and related fields. .