Interconnectedness Opening Act
Shaping Our Existence: Individual Agency or Social Determinism? Socioeconomic Influences on Youth Development in the Balkans: Bridging Aspirations and Realities by Luise Meerheim
In the journey from youth to adulthood, individ- The Illusion of Independence uals encounter the pervasive belief that “You can achieve anything if you just really want to.” Youth marks a phase of breaking free from paWhile seemingly empowering, a closer examination reveals a need for critical analysis, considering the intricate interplay between individual aspirations and societal structures.
“In fact, the statistics show that youngsters of Montenegro, Albania, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed much less tolerance about homosexuality or abortion than about bribery or tax fraud. ”
Southeast Europe Region
© PytyCzech
rental dependence, making independent life decisions, and delving into education, careers, and societal involvement. However, the prevailing notion of individual achievement neglects the impact of social structures, creating a potentially misleading image of a world focused solely on the individual.
Unveiling Social Disparities: Insights from the Balkans 1
A 2018 study commissioned by the Friedrich
Ebert Foundation surveyed 10,000 young people across ten different Balkan states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria Croatia, Kosovo, North- Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia und Slovenia) to find out to what extent their wishes and experiences for and about life are related to the social and societal structures in which they grew up. The equally sobering and sad result was that: “Social inequalities permeate all aspects of young people’s lives and yield differences in the extent to which young people have access to higher levels of education, engage in different self-development activi1 Miran Lavrič, Smiljka Tomanović und Mirna Jusić, in Youth Studies Southeast Europe 2018/2019
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