Youth unemployment: an old problem or a new life-style?

This paper draws on the findings from 551 interviews among 16–20-year-olds from high unemployment areas in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Wolverhampton. It argues that theories about responses to unemployment, derived from the experiences of earlier generations, cannot be reconciled with the behaviour and attitudes of contemporary youth. To make sense of current developments, and in particular to understand the relevance of recreation in an age of rising youth unemployment, the authors insist that we need to reappraise work and leisure, and recognize the qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of the changes in process.