This book examines the everyday-life patterns of young adults under circumstances of vulnerability and precariousness. Its main focus is on the web of social relations that structure the everyday life of young people, for instance by providing resources and tools of solving problems, exerting pressures and voicing expectations, and shaping the person's self-conception, identity, and well-being. Based on more than 120 in-depth interviews with young long-term unemployed in six European countries, this book puts social support and the young jobless' webs of social relations at center stage. It expands knowledge by raising awareness of the multidimensionality and complexity of the social conditions of young jobless, drawing, on the one hand, a more differentiated picture of unemployment, vulnerability and social exclusion amongst young people and, on the other hand, taking a close look at the social reality of young adults' unemployment in different European cities.

Christian Lahusen is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts at the University of Siegen, Germany. His research is devoted to the analysis of social problems and social exclusion, political behavior and social movements, and to the sociology of European integration.

Marco Giugni is Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations and Director of the Institute of Cititzenship Studies (InCite) at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. His research interests include social movements and collective action, immigration and ethnic relations, unemployment and social exclusion.