Young people and life-course inequalities: The role of families and housing

It has been argued that younger adults across Western economies have been particularly disadvantaged by the ‘de-institutionalization’ of the Fordist infrastructures that supported preceding generations as they transitioned to adulthood and formed independent family-households. Housing affordability, employment and income security, and welfares state structures are now considered more adversely aligned making adult transitions and the formation of new, economically secure households far more problematic. This commentary argues that this development is not particularly new and much more variegated and widespread than many analyses account for. Indeed, Japan began to evidence similar disalignment between generations more than three decades ago, making it difficult for successive adult cohorts to replicate the life-course transitions of their parents. It also argues that while analyses have focused on the individualization of life-courses, families have actually become more important to supporting early adult life-course transitions. It further affirms the role housing assets have played as both a driver of intergenerational inequality and also a means by which contemporary families help out their younger members.