Radicalisation to retreat: Responses of the young to austerity Europe

Abstract

The prospects for young people in Europe look bleak. The social condition of young people is characterised by experiences of exclusion, and a sense of betrayal and anger at having been sacrificed by the older generation. Many more young people, from more diverse backgrounds and perspectives, are now exposed to precarious social circumstances. Spontaneous and planned riots and urban protest have displayed the anger and the anxieties of youth in Europe. How young people will continue to respond to these conditions is clearly a matter for conjecture and there is a range of possibilities. The democratic imperative is by no means certain. This paper advances a scenario in which historically socially disadvantaged youth may connect with newly intellectually disaffected young people to produce either more toxic or more creative alliances amongst the young. © 2014 © 2013 Taylor & Francis.