Social resilience in facing precarity: young people ‘rising to the occasion’

How some people successfully cope with and adapt to precarious employment experiences in their youth, and whether or not these efforts result in transformative outcomes, lies at the heart of discussions around social resilience (Keck and Sakdapolrak, 2013) and capabilities (Nussbaum and Sen, 1993). This chapter provides an empirical investigation of these concepts in Norway and the United Kingdom − two countries with distinctive youth transition regimes in terms of supporting institutions and cultural norms around young adulthood (Walther, 2006). Through qualitative interviews we identify similarities and differences in the support provided through formal institutions, such as education and public employment services (PES), and through social networks facilitated by family, friends and volunteering experiences. We argue that drawing on the two concepts of social resilience and capabilities provides a powerful lens for identifying how young people negotiate their pathways out of precarious employment in the short to long term. Situating this qualitative evidence in the context of two very different institutional contexts allows us to identify similarities and differences in the interactions between institutional structures and individual agency that enable functioning in the capabilities sense, and at the same time highlights different types of social resilience. Our analysis is presented in three sections. First, we provide a short review of the literature on social resilience and the capability approach. We argue that linking the two perspectives provides analytical leverage for better understanding the dynamics underlying apparently positive outcomes. Second, we draw on data from life-course interviews conducted in the United Kingdom and Norway to examine the role of some key conversion factors. These include formal institutions