The Current Construction of the “Wandering Youth” Problem in France

The public policies on “struggling youth” France has implemented since the 1980s have hardly reached their objectives. The recent emergence of the “jeunes en errance” (literally “aimless youth”) category is partly due to the weaknesses and failures of former policies. This paper examines the theoretical and political process of constructing this new category. It demonstrates the role played by compassionate attitudes (favored) and security measures (much debated) in handling populations with few assets that are valuable on the labor market.