Understanding Youth Lives Through the Metaphor of Belonging

• In Event: Modeling Youth Development: Empirical and Conceptual Advances

Abstract

Drawing on a two-decade longitudinal study of young people in Australia, this paper makes a contribution to the rich field of youth studies by challenging traditional conceptualizations of youth based on the metaphor of transitions to embrace the emerging metaphor of belonging. In this paper I focus on rural young people. Youth transitions metaphor emphasize the relationship between youth, education and labor market policies that aim to support young people to move through a series of normative stages rather than the social processes occurring between these points. I argue that the metaphor of belonging enables researchers to better understand what happens between these markers of adulthood and sheds light on how youth are compelled to construct their own futures.

Author

• Hernan Cuervo, University of Melbourne