Details on Misleading Trajectories

Misleading Trajectories CoverEvaluation of employment policies for young adults in Europe regarding non-intended effects of social exclusion.

Financed by the European Commission under the 4th Framework Programme for Research, Technology, and Demonstration, „Targeted Socio-Economic Research“ (TSER, Area III.4), carried out through EGRIS, coordinated by IRIS e.V.

Duration: 1998-2001

The thematic network ‚Misleading Trajectories‘ has been concerned with the traps of social exclusion within policies addressing young people’s transitions to work (school, vocational training, careers advice, social security, labour market programmes). The network (involving Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain) began from the observation that many policies that are intended to ‚lead‘ towards gainful employment, adult status and social integration, are in fact ‚misleading‘ in terms of:

  • reducing social integration to labour market integration, thus neglecting young adults‘ subjective perspectives and leading to a „waste“ of motivation;
  • not considering the change of labour societies and reducing the „mismatch“ between supply and demand to an individualised „pedagogisation“ of labour market problems.

Theoretically misleading trajectories stand for the increasing discrepancy between social integration and systems‘ integration. Institutions increasingly fail in understanding, addressing and solving the complexities and contradictions of social integration in general and individual life course transitions in particular.

One of the core objectives has been to sketch a framework of Integration Transition Policies for young adults in Europe.

Publication:
Walther, Andreas, Stauber, Barbara et al. (eds.) Misleading Trajectories. Integration Policies for Young Adults in Europe? Opladen: Leske+Budrich.