Page 43 - TLU magazine - The Way to The Top

what are those "snowflakes”
SOWORRIEDABOUT?
Until the 21st century, youth was seen as a mere transition period be- tween childhood and adult life, which passes by rapidly and therefore does not require much scientific research. By now, it has been recog- nised that youth is an important stage in life that lasts nearly 20 years, and much depends on its organisation and experience.
Some researchers find that today's society, combined with uncertain jobs, rising property prices, refined bureaucracy and growing social inequality, automatically puts 16–29-year-olds at a disadvantage in society and makes them a so-called risk group.
The situation of young people is not the same across Europe. In Estonia, youth unemployment is below average, wages are good and life satisfac- tion is high. But in Spain, Greece or France we see a completely different picture. Consequently, the position of young people in society can be influenced by policies. This is where the idea of a science network linking 30 European countries came from.
Youth policy itself is only twenty years old. The discussions on what exactly it should regulate
are still ongoing. In addition, it is important to monitor all existing policies and assess whether they may place young people at a disadvantage compared with children or middle-aged adults. In Denmark, for example, the risk of poverty for 20-year-olds is significantly increasing, indicat- ing that Denmark, otherwise known as an equal society, has missed something important in youth policy. In Estonia, 14 percent of 20–39-year-olds don’t have health insurance, which is nearly twice the national average. This gives a clear hint that the health insurance system, which is very rigidly linked to employment, does not fit into young people's lives.
So far, the independence of young people has been studied mainly from a sociological point of view. From there, we learn typical lifestyles or differences between certain groups. For example, unemployment is a major obstacle to young people's family formation. The work
of sociologists has also revealed the phenom- enon of the accumulation of disadvantages
– those who do poorly in one area may be at risk in others as well. This makes it difficult for students with poor health to cope at university, which subsequently diminishes their prospects on the labour market. Subsequent patterns of political behaviour among young people who have experienced bullying at school tend to be either extremist or completely absent. So it is very important to find situations where inferi- ority tends to accumulate. This is the only way to break the vicious circle.
As young people who have reached adulthood are active in a wide range of fields – business, labour market, education, politics, civil society – it makes sense to combine the know-how of sociologists, demographers, economists, human geographers and political scientists, in other words, to find transdisciplinary solutions to youth problems.
The first Estonian-led COST project "The Transdisciplinary Solutions to Disadvantages for Young People
" (YOUNG-IN) will run until September 2022. Funded by the European Commission with 0.7 million euros. The project is led by Tallinn University Professor of Social Policy Anu Toots, along with Associate Professor Triin Lauri, Professor Marge Unt and PhD student Anna Broka. COST (European Coop- eration in Science and Technology) is the oldest science and technology association in Europe that promotes interdisciplin- ary cooperation and brings science and policy closer together.
Professor of Social Policy Anu Toots
TALLINN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE / NO. 14 / SPRING 2020
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