Youth in the information society: problems, prospects and research directions

This paper examines the defining features of the information society in terms of the effects information technology has had on stratification and social exclusion as mediated by education. Direct access to such benefits of information technology as the Internet is likely to be restricted to a relatively small elite. The consequence for the great majority is larger numbers of people pursuing a smaller number of jobs and ever higher priority placed on extended education and qualifications. The economic pressures on individuals operating in an increasingly 'individualized' world need to be set against the benefits extended education for larger numbers may be expected to bring. In the terms of the Romanian sociologist, Fred Mahler, 'emancipatory socialization' through education, in place of socialization through employment, offers the opportunity not only of transforming the nature of work but the goals to which it is directed. The information society needs to become a learning society. To understand how to achieve this we need research on the dynamics of youth transitions in all areas of life and their interactions with accelerating technological change.