Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction: young people and contradictions of inclusion
- Part One Risks and contradictions in young people’s transitions to work
- Part Two Young people and transition policies in Europe
- Part Three Dilemmas and perspectives of Integrated Transition Policies
- Index
- Also available from The Policy Press
eight - The third sector: ghetto for the disadvantaged or springboard toward integration?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures and tables
- Acknowledgements
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction: young people and contradictions of inclusion
- Part One Risks and contradictions in young people’s transitions to work
- Part Two Young people and transition policies in Europe
- Part Three Dilemmas and perspectives of Integrated Transition Policies
- Index
- Also available from The Policy Press
Summary
Introduction
With regard to transitional arrangements for young people, it has been speculated that the so-called ‘third sector’ of non-profit organisations, between state and market, can play an important role in developing labour markets: first, through the increase in employment opportunities within the third sector (these might be seen as a diversification of entrance options to the labour market in general); second, individuals, and especially young people in the third sector, can make valuable personal contributions – without being subjected to either market rules or formal qualification regimentation; third, tangentially the third sector is embedded in young people's biographies (life worlds) or at least provides bridges of familiarity compared to the bureaucratic logic of state institutions; and fourth, due to the lack of formalised structures, many third-sector organisations are open to individually shaped forms of engagement and participation.
The contextual background of this chapter can be located within a collaborative project funded by the EC under the Third System and Employment programme from 1998 to 2000 and involving a comparative analysis in four EU regions: Baden-Württemberg (Germany); Merseyside (UK); Cork (Ireland); Emilia-Romagna (Italy). The research examined the role of local third-sector networks and initiatives in the area of social and youth services (for example, youth work, youth policy, community work for young people) and their success or otherwise in supporting job creation for (disadvantaged) young people.
This chapter seeks to adapt some of the key findings of the project, particularly in the areas of comparative analysis of regional reports in the search for an understanding of those policies, experiences and processes that best embraced solutions and ‘good practice’. Moreover, the potential of the third sector for young people's transitions to work – especially in an Integrated Transition Policies (ITPs) perspective – is assessed as well as the constraints that limit the full exploitation of these potentials.
Employment: what is the role of the ‘third sector’?
The third sector
Our systems of employment, education and training, economic development, taxation, social security, were built upon assumptions about work and society which are now out of touch. We must introduce structural reforms into our employment, social protection and taxation systems …. This presents the third system with a new responsibility in one important element of the strategy: the need to make a decisive shift from passive to active policies. (Flynn, 1998)
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Young People and Contradictions of InclusionTowards Integrated Transition Policies in Europe, pp. 145 - 162Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2003