Youth autonomy: political and sociological questions about student worlds.

Summary The back cover states: "The thwarted autonomy of young people is the most debated issue in public policies relating to this age of life in France. By reconstructing the evolution of public debates and administrative recommendations over the last twenty years, by making European comparisons, and by exploiting a large body of sociological literature devoted to this issue, this book analyzes the condition of young people and students together. Although there are now strong divisions between these two groups of young people, the same paradoxes characterize them. Autonomous earlier and dependent for longer, young people ask to be able to control their destiny, while at the same time expressing strong expectations of support. Their long process of acquiring autonomy and their social integration are now carried out through the mediation of adults (parents, teachers and other professionals), who are supposed to accompany, often through the intermediary of institutional arrangements, both young people who are in school and those who are having difficulty integrating.