10. Facing the Self-Government Test: Italian Youth and the Avatars of Neoliberalism

The research on which this chapter is based was conducted in Milan, one of the Italian cities where the economic crisis that started in 2007 had a more moderate impact, even though the instability of professional opportunities and the fragmentation of careers are still part of the everyday experience of young people. The research conducted from 2013 to 2016 was based on 75 in-depth interviews with young people living in Milan and its suburbs, with different social and professional statuses, plus 10 interviews carried out in 2017 with university students involved in an occupied cultural centre in Milan. All the interviewees had completed, interrupted or started their studies after 2008 and entered or tried to enter the labour market when the effects of the crisis were already manifest; the 10 interviews conducted in 2017 included only university students without a stable job (5 females and 5 males). 35 respondents had lower education, were aged 18 to 26 (18 males, 17 females) and they were selected through public employment services in Milan or by word-of-mouth; 40 interviewees had higher education (degree), were aged 25 to 31 (20 males, 20 females) and were mainly contacted by word-of-mouth and through the Youth Orientation Service of the Municipality of Milan. Among the young adults with lower educations, 9 were unemployed, 11 were employed, 3 were self-employed and 12 were doing a work experience placement or an apprenticeship. Among those with higher educations, 2 were unemployed, 21 employed, 8 self-employed, 6 professional, and 3 were doing a work experience placement. The interviews mainly concentrated on: (1) work (current situation, school-work transition, and work expectations and aspirations); (2) lifestyle (consumption, future lifestyle aspirations and expectations); (3) social participation (forms of generational identification, interests and involvement in politics and voluntary work, representation of social rights and duties); (4) crisis (representation of the current economic and social situation, its constraints and opportunities), (Colombo et al. 2018).