Generation, youth and social change in Australia.

J. Wyn & D. Woodman, Journal of Youth Studies, v.9, n.5, 2006, pp.495-514.

Highlighting the shortcomings of conceptualising 'youth' as a linear, transitional life-phase between childhood and adulthood, this paper investigates 'generation' as a more appropriate framework for conceptualising youth. The term 'transition' implies a set of universal, normative attitudes and behaviours experienced as young people enter adulthood, as defined by the experiences of the previous generation, from which all deviations are 'faulty'. Conversely, 'generation' acknowledges the specific economic, social, cultural and political contexts inhabited by young people from different generations, by which subjective experiences of youth and adulthood are shaped. Data from the post-1970 generation of Australians are compared to data from the Baby Boomer generation to illustrate the shift in life patterns (such as education, employment, relation ships and household formation) between these groups, which are largely attributed to the distinctive social and political conditions experienced by these generations during their youth. The authors illustrate how the different 'subjectivities' of the post-1970 generation influenced this generation's construction of a 'new adulthood'.