The “NEET” category from the perspective of inequalities: toward a typology of school-to-work transitions among youth from lower class neighborhoods in the Brussels region (Belgium)

Abstract

This paper proposes a critical analysis of the NEET category. We argue that it is both too focused on individual responsibility and too homogenizing to enable the development of public policies and measures capable of responding to the needs of the most excluded youth. We respond to these needs using a qualitative approach that has allowed us to account for the diversity of young people, especially the most marginalized, living in lower-class neighborhoods of the Brussels region. Our approach generates a NEET/non-NEET typology that helps deconstruct NEET as a statistical category by identifying social situations that are both diverse and temporary. This typology challenges the tendency to reify young people and to hold them responsible for their own circumstances. Furthermore, our typology shows how NEET situations result from trajectories shaped by structural dynamics as well as relations and processes of inequality. These may stem from social class, experiences of migration, or the intersection of the two, and inevitably exercise an effect on both school and job market environments.

Exploring the Influence of Crime on NEET Rates: A Regional Analysis of Italy

“…Our findings thus underscore an additional vulnerability affecting individuals with poorer well-being and concerns about their future [85]. Given that crime often correlates more strongly with particular backgrounds (e.g., neighborhood) and social classes, there is a need for more targeted policies that consider the barriers they face in accessing education and employment opportunities [86]. In this context, an emerging trend is the provision of individualized support in the transition to adulthood, which extends beyond traditional school-to-work transition assistance.…”

Être ou ne pas être NEET ? La complexité des transitions études-marché de l’emploi à Bruxelles

“…2 Notre contribution avance une analyse critique de la catégorie NEET que nous proposons d'affiner en plusieurs types, dont l'utilisation dans les politiques publiques bruxelloises permettrait de mieux cibler les jeunes qui en ont le plus besoin. Suivant la revue de la littérature qui indique que la catégorie NEET repose sur une approche simplifiée des inégalités sociales [pour la revue de la littérature, voir André et Crosby, 2022], notre analyse est basée sur une approche sociologique qui s'inspire de la sociologie des inégalités et de la jeunesse. Notre approche permet de dégager une typologie plus fine des situations NEET/non-NEET à partir d'un matériel ethnographique récolté auprès de jeunes des quartiers populaires de la capitale.…”

To be or not to be NEET? The complexity of school-to-work transitions in Brussels

“…This paper presents a critical analysis of the NEET category, which we propose to break down into several subcategories, whose use in Brussels public policies would allow a better targeting of the young people who need it most. Following the literature review which indicates that the NEET category is based on a simplified approach to social inequality [for the literature review, see André and Crosby, 2022], our analysis is based on a sociological approach inspired by the sociology of inequality and youth. Our approach allows us to identify a more refined typology of NEET/non-NEET situations based on ethnographic material collected from young people in working-class neighbourhoods in the capital.…”