The Impact of the Crisis on Young People in Spain

This article studies the impact of poverty during the process of transition to adult life in Spain within the context of the current crisis. It conceptualises young people by means of social criteria, through a multidimensional analysis of vulnerability and a methodological triangulation that combines quantitative analysis (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, EU-SILC, 2011) with qualitative analysis, through biographical interviews. It localizes the existence of socially differentiated juvenile social groups within the contemporary social structure of Spain. It also shows how each social position is affected by specific forms of vulnerability. Finally, it evaluates the process of integration of this social position in the subjectivity and practices of Spanish youths in terms of reaction strategies in the face of poverty, degradation of identity, and social isolation: everything from the alternative search (often alegal, illegal and/or stigmatized) for material resources, to subjective mechanisms for relief from or relativization of their living conditions.