Jugend im Blickpunkt empirischer Forschung

Abstract

"According to the DJI Youth Survey (1995), three major youth studies have recently appeared (Silbereisen, Vaskovics & Zinnecker 1996, Schmidtchen 1997 as well as Jugendwerk der Deutschen Shell 1997). At first they give the impression, on the basis of their wealth of detailed information, that they provide a comprehensive picture of the social reality of the younger generation. Nonetheless, they still make it difficult for their readers to come to a sound image of youth, or to keep in view the pecularities of these studies and their contexts. Why is this? And, to what extent to they prove to be deficient in relation to a critical perspective on aspects which are ultimately quite important? It appears, that central dimensions of social inequality are only superficially addressed. In addition, the concepts of social theory and youth sociology are only used selectively and not as consistent interpretive threads. While in the 12 Shell studies, 'Youth '97' are characterized very generally as 'affected by the social crisis' and 'forgotten by politics', Schmidtchen gives a social-psychological impression of a thoroughly modally deficient youth. With Silbereisen, Vaskovics & Zinnecker, in contrast, the picture of youth dissolves into a spectrum of diverse disciplinary perspectives. The paper discusses and critically evaluates selections from the results." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Achatz, J., Gaiser, W., Gille, M., Kleinert, C., Krüger, W. & Rijke, J. (1998): Jugend im Blickpunkt empirischer Forschung. Drei aktuelle Jugendstudien. In: Sozialwissenschaftliche Literatur-Rundschau, Vol. 21, No. 1, p. 17-28.