Researchers, scholars and professionals with an interest in the topic of the conference are invited to tackle the issues hereby raised thus contributing to the encounter of different disciplines and critical perspectives. Special attention will be devoted to contributions providing an analysis of specific constraints influencing young people and of resources mobilised by them; further topics of interest deal with inequalities affecting young people’s lives in local, national, European and transnational settings. Main aim of the conference is to promote the understanding of the issues under consideration from both an international and comparative perspective.

Forlì (Italy) 26th-28th March 2009 - Young people, Europe, the Mediterranean Territories, Identities, policies

As Europe increasingly expands eastward while maintaining multifaceted relations across the Mediterranean, young people appear as both victims of social apprehension and actors of innovation and change in the continent’s political, cultural and economic life. Diversity both within Europe and in the wider area including the continent’s peripheries forces young people to confront a variety of difficulties. On the one hand, inequalities in the Euro-Mediterranean area and/or the decline of traditional integration mechanisms urge young people to look for new ways of achieving autonomy and independence in the face of difficulties in gaining access to training, work, housing, parenting, and social and political participation. On the other hand, the young distance themselves from adults’ representations of youth as problematic and from adults’ inability to accept young people’s criticism of their roles.

In short, young people both actively contribute to and mirror changes affecting society. Identities, knowledge, modes of communication, value and belief systems of the young, as well as their attitudes and relationships with family and work, affect the institutions through which society shapes its own reproduction.

Against this general background, a few central issues beg for consideration:
• How do young people act within a changing contemporary society affected by increasing migrations and workforce and student population mobility?
• How do young people face europeanisation? How are their lives affected by the increasing interdependence of economies, societies and cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean area and the whole world?
• What spaces of innovation can young people contribute to create in interacting with the institutions of social life? What ruptures and recompositions characterise their different life experiences?
• Do concepts such as “European youth”, “Mediterranean youth” or “Euro-Mediterranean youth” have real existence?
• What objective and subjective aspects affect the transition to active life from school through training to work?
• How important are the bonds to the territory and belonging to a specific socio-cultural identity?
• What policies are aimed at young people at regional and national levels? How do these contribute to “constructing” youth? What models of youth do they set up?
• What ideas and citizenship practices emerge from participative and conflictive actions of the young?
• What settings, processes and situations provide privileged observation posts of young people in action?

Researchers, scholars and professionals with an interest in the topic of the conference are invited to tackle the issues hereby raised thus contributing to the encounter of different disciplines and critical perspectives. Special attention will be devoted to contributions providing an analysis of specific constraints influencing young people and of resources mobilised by them; further topics of interest 4th Conference YOUNG PEOPLE & SOCIETIES in Europe and around the Mediterranean deal with inequalities affecting young people’s lives in local, national, European and transnational settings. Main aim of the conference is to promote the understanding of the issues under consideration from both an international and comparative perspective.
The Conference will be held in Forlì (Faculty of Political Science “R. Ruffilli” – Forlì Campus – University of Bologna) on 26th-28th March 2009 and will consist of plenary sessions (with simultaneous translation from and into Italian, English and French) and of thematic workshops in parallel sessions in Italian, English and French.

Possible topics for workshops include (but are not limited to):
- defining young people’s age and modes of transition to adult life;
- the second generation’s transition to adulthood;
- policies promoting young people’s autonomy;
- knowledge, knowledges, and training and education institutions;
- young people and socialisation to work;
- entrepreneurial proclivity and transmission of entrepreneurial functions in young people;
- young people and employment: processes and meanings;
- gender identities and relations among new generations;
- processes and practices of active citizenship;
- social, political and humanitarian commitment;
- young people and social norms;
- youth imaginary and ideas of the future;
- young people and the media, media representations of young people;
- sense of “place” between rootedness and mobility;
- young people, cities and suburbs.

Those interested in participating in any of the thematic workshops are invited to submit an abstract of their talk (max. 3,000 characters, spaces included) by 15th September 2008. Only abstracts in Italian, English or French will be considered. Submissions will include the following information:
Name and Surname, Institution, Institutional or professional position, Email address, Title of the presentation.

Procedure for abstract submission:
- on the www.giovaniesocieta.unibo.it website click on “Abstract submission”;
- fill in the form and submit it;
- confirmation of successful submission of your abstract will be notified by email.
Abstracts will be reviewed and evaluated by the Scientific Committee by 15th October 2008.
Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by email.
Accepted proposals will have to be developed into papers (max. 30,000 characters, spaces included) and sent by 15th February 2009, following the procedure indicated above and clicking on “Paper submission”.
Instructions for conference registration are provided on the Conference website on the “Registration” page.

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The conferencies Young People & Societies in Europe and around the Mediterranean took place through the collaboration of some French research and training institutions (Centre d'études et de recherches sur les qualifications, Institut national de la Jeunesse et de l’Éducation populaire, Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres e Laboratoire d'Economie et Sociologie du Travail).
The fourth edition is promoted by Polo Scientifico-didattico of Forlì and Faculty of Political Science “R. Ruffilli” – University of Bologna (Forlì campus).
The Italian edition of the conference is endorsed by the Italian Sociology Association and by the Department of Sociology - University of Bologna.
For futher information see: www.giovaniesocieta.unibo.it and www.jeunes-et-societes.cereq.fr