Experiences and metaphors on precariousness and youth hyperactivity in a time of waiting

Abstract

Precarity is generally understood as a negative characteristic, an absence or lack of skills, competencies or resources of some kind. If youth is defined as a time of preparation prior to adulthood, it can lead to interpreting this stage of the life cycle as a moment of dependence, a pre-complete. Both can also be understood as a space-time of activity, creativity, and experimentation of new strategies of life in determined conditions. The article proposes three objectives: one, it systematizes the studies on precariousness carried out in Spain in recent years; two, from these investigations it presents a complex definition of precariousness. Based on a field work of personal interviews and discussion group, it addresses, in third place, different meanings, narratives and experiences of young people about normality and precariousness, as well as some metaphors commonly used to refer to precariousness.