Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book develops an interdisciplinary approach, by means of a socio-ecological developmental model, to understand school-to-work transitions. It describes the elements to understand the connection between structure and agency in Portuguese young people’s own perceptions of their lives, but shifting the discussion to the importance of integrating the life course approach principles of linked lives into the debate. The book presents contributions that focus on specific temporal and historical empirical observatories of the relationship between structure and agency. It addresses the complex processes of transition between education and work in structural circumstances of increasing social inequalities, which limit life chances and strongly constrain individual agency. The book shows how agency can be exercised by young people living in small towns and rural areas in Finland. It introduces Margaret Archer’s approach on reflexivity and social change to the debate in youth studies.