Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to analyze the work experiences of 50 precarious young people, interviewed in a city of Northern Italy, Turin, and in a city of the South, Catania. The subjective points of view, the definitions, the perceptions and the strategies of the interviewees are investigated in relation to the transition to adulthood, phase of the life course (Elder 1995) that they are experiencing in a historical period and in societies marked by work precariousness as a state of generalized and permanent insecurity (Bourdieu 1998), and paying attention to the role of the territorial context. How can living in Turin and Catania change the interpretation that the young individuals give of their own precariousness, the “navigationµ strategies of it and the possible “exit strategiesµ and where instead transversal similarities between the young people interviewed in the two cities emerge? What dimensions do influence differences and transversality? The present paper explores these questions.