Youth on Edge: Facing Global Crises in Multicultural French Society

This book explores disrupted youth cohesion in France within the context of multiple ongoing global economic, migratory, social, political, and security-related crises. While these trends can be observed in numerous Western societies, France provides a unique case study of various anti-cosmopolitan and anti-Enlightenment movements shaping youth conditions and reconfiguring relationships between the individual, the group, and society. The authors undertook in-depth interviews with French young people between the ages of 18 to 30 years old to inquire into how they experience ＂vivre ensemble＂ (living together) in a time of rising economic inequalities and multicultural tensions. Through these findings, they invite decision-makers, politicians, educators, and parents to propose a renewed narrative of social cohesion for youth who are not disillusioned, but deeply on edge.

Vincenzo Cicchelli is Associate Professor of Sociology and Research Fellow at the Centre Population et Développement at the Université Paris Cité/IRD, France. He is co-editor-in-chief (with Sylvie Octobre) of Youth and Globalization (Brill). Sylvie Octobre is Researcher at Département des Études, de la Prospective et des Statistiques, Ministère de la Culture, and Research Fellow at Centre Max Weber, France. She is co-editor-in-chief (with Vincenzo Cicchelli) of Youth and Globalization (Brill).