‘Foreclosed future’ in between continuity and innovation in youth’ futures research

valentina cuzzocrea

2025-01-01

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Abstract

This contribution discusses how the metaphor of youth futures as ‘foreclosed futures’ suggested by Santiago del Rìo et al. is both rooted in the existing literature on youth's experiences of temporal suspension and at the same time extends that literature by addressing the shifting structural conditions youth people face today. This commentary therefore highlights how the intensifying climate of hardship further reinforces and strengthens the central argument of the article ‘Austere life-course and forecloses futures’ which is developed through the proposal of the metaphor ‘foreclosed futures’, to understand the particular view of the future amongst young people in austerity regimes.