Entering Adulthood. In Search of Specificity of the Post-communist Countries
Entering Adulthood. In Search of Specificity of the Post-communist Countries

Summary/Abstract: The subject of analysis in this article is, on the one hand, the category of youth (as a phase of life and as a social group), increasingly discursive and less transparent nowadays, and – on the other hand – some social areas revealing the largest cumulation of young people’s life problems, such as education, entering a labour market and issues related to becoming self-reliant and personal life arrangements. The specific of the post-communist countries is that all of the above presenting a quite different, non-standard face of the youth, which may be excessively prolonged in entering adulthood, more complex (hybrid), more difficult to bear, systemically bereft and politically riskier. The issue analysed in this article is part of a broader diagnosis of the young generation in countries undergoing the political transformation in Eastern Europe and Asia. The empirical base used in this project were existing sources collected in national and international surveys and studies. The paper presents – first – some (psychological, sociological and political) arguments for a broader definition of youth, and then focuses on showing the three main areas requiring support, which are in analyzed countries: education, transition from school to employment and establishing the new independent family life.

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