Choice biographies and transitional linearity: Re-conceptualising modern youth transitions

Abstract

It has been suggested that youth transitions have become increasingly protracted and com- plex and that routes between school and work, which were once viewed as linear and pre- dictable, have been replaced by a set of movements that are more fragmented. Our aim in this paper is to contextualise these changes in an attempt to capture the degree of com- plexity characteristic of modern transitions and to explore the implications for patterns of labour market integration. We argue that there has been a tendency to exaggerate process- es of de-linearisation and that the modern tendency to regard transitional complexity as symptomatic of «choice biographies» can help mask structures of disadvantage.