Młodzież. Kłopotliwa kategoria socjologiczna

Th e Youth: A Troublesome Sociological CategoryTh e youth is a sociological category which usually causes trouble for the adults due toyoung people’s contestation of the social order and value systems. Young people havealways been among potential and actual revolutionaries. It can be concluded that theyouth constitute some kind of threat to the existing state of society. Young peoplecompete with adults, not only in the sphere of values, but also on the job market forthe best posts and, as a consequence, for positions in the social structure. Since thisis a kind of an emerging category, just entering an adult life, its position has beenusually worse. Th us the youth additionally has to experience (oft en negative) consequencesof social change and its impact for individual biographies of youngsters. Th eyouth also causes trouble as an object of sociological study. Firstly, there are problemshow to determine precisely the scope and content (meaning) of this concept.Secondly, youth research led usually to the conclusions that were quickly challengedby the social practice. Th irdly, there are various ideas how to determine its role insociety. Th e purpose of this paper is to analyze these issues in the context of the socialchanges taking place in the modern globalized society.