Juventud y percepciones de la crisis: precarización laboral, clases medias y nueva política

Abstract

Young people in Spain have been one of the groups most affected by the economic crisis, social cuts and growing inequality in recent years. They are facing a scenario marked by high levels of unemployment and a dramatic uncertainty in their life project. Being a vulnerable group, it is of enormous sociological interest to understand not only how they perceive the recent social, political and economic changes in the country, but also to know their views on the welfare state and its role inside the current model of economic austerity that prevails in Europe nowadays. To do so, we have developed a qualitative analysis (sociological discourse analysis) drawing on empirical data obtained from six focus groups held in mid-2015 in the region of Madrid. The groups had been organized in order to discuss different issues related to the lifestyles of young Spaniards, and the participants were grouped according to different social, personal and educational profiles and backgrounds. Our goal was to achieve a better understanding of their perceptions regarding the current socio-political situation, their expectations about their future, while dealing with issues such as the most recent changes in the labour market or public consumption. In this article we present our analysis, while also comparing the results with a similar focus group-based research conducted in mid-2011. Our aim is to identify possible changes in the social representations of young people during this period, highlighting particularly the role public consumption is considered to play in Spanish society. Data shows a striking consensus among participants regarding the worsening of life conditions, social welfare and expectations about the future, while at the same time there is a growing interest in politics.youth; public consumption; precariousness; economic crisis; political participation