Juventud alargada y trabajo: desafíos del mundo laboral en las experiencias de jóvenes brasileños y españoles

Abstract

This paper aims to study the relationship between the situation of young people in the labor market and the phenomenon of prolonged youth. A qualitative investigation with a cross-sectional design was developed with people 25-29 years old, from Brazil and Spain. Individual in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted with men and women in both countries, totaling 50 respondents. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, organized and categorized with Atlas-ti® software, and analyzed through semantic content analysis. The analysis plainly shows that the situation of job insecurity and instability faced by young Brazilian and Spanish people exacerbates the postponement of the thresholds of transition to adulthood, and contributes to remaining in a juvenile condition for a longer period compared with previous generations. Prolonged youth is more pronounced among young Spanish people and is intensified by the economic crisis experienced in the country. The social repercussions of such behaviors are minimized as this fits the contemporary paradigm that sees youth as the canonical age and holds the idea of eternal youth as a social model.