Social Generation, Class and Experiences of Youth Transition in Indonesia

This article explains the transition process of the contemporary Indonesian generation in the neoliberal era. I use social generation, the concept of class and youth transition perspective to analyse the impact of neoliberal domination on the constructed meaning of transition among young people from different classes. Public higher education has been commoditized and the majority of companies have started practising the flexibility concept in the job markets. For lower class youth, they have had to bury their dream to continue to higher education, had to enter badly paid work and support their parents. In contrast, young people from the middle class have enjoyed the privilege to continue to higher education through the support of their family, they have not had to work earlier or support their parents. However, in the stage of transition to work, young people from both classes have had to deal with the logic of flexibility in the job market such as training, internship, outsourcing and low rate of salary. They have also had to postpone their transition into marriage and are still living with their parents. This article concludes that transition processes of contemporary Indonesian youth in the neoliberal era are insecure and uncertain. Keywords: Social generation, class, youth transition, meaning, Indonesi