5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

In current times of rapid social change and increasing uncertainty in the lives of young people, qualitative longitudinal research enhances the opportunity of tracking youth transitions across different dimensions of individuals’ and social groups’ life. They afford a unique opportunity to contribute to research debates about the impact of these social changes on youth matters and are a relevant method for researchers to check for issues of continuity and change in young people’s lives. These methods enable researchers to walk alongside the researched and to be alert to spatial and temporal processes that bring into sharp relief critical and ordinary moments that constitute life.

In this session we invite researchers, at all stages of their careers, working in the field of youth studies and qualitative longitudinal research to contribute papers that can illuminate the critical and everyday moments in youth lives, and the multiplicity of transitions occurring in different social contexts. We are interested in papers from qualitative longitudinal studies focusing on: school-to-work transitions, processes that produce intergenerational and intragenerational inequality, youth labour market issues, social inclusion and exclusion in urban and/or rural spaces, family relationships, housing, poverty and territorial segregation, marginalization and violence, power and youth political participation, and youth transitions shaped by social class, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexuality, and place.