Introduction

The debate on the present and future of youth has aroused interest in western societies since the Second World War. The major youth movements of the nineteen sixties and seventies were of course the source of this renewed interest. Generally speaking, however, we may state that the investigation which the adult world dedicated to young people in those decades sprang from two main concerns. The first dealt with the issue of social control; the second with the widespread concern for the social inclusion of young people.