Welcome to the EU collaborative project SocIEtY
SocIEtY is an international, interdisciplinary and collaborative research project funded by the Europeans Union’s Seventh Framework Programme.
Thirteen partners from 11 European countries are working on the development of innovative social and institutional ways of improving the quality of life of young disadvantaged people.
Project duration: January 2013 – December 2015
The FINAL CONFERENCE took place on 9 December 2015 at the EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT!
Final Conference Photo Gallery
Topics and objectives
• The overall goal of SocIEtY is to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged young people through social innovation. In doing so the aim of SocIEtY is not only to identify opportunities to reduce inequalities, but also to extend and builds knowledge and tools for the ultimate policy goal of a ‘good life for all’.
• The project consequently takes the perspective of how young people aged 15-24 live in different European countries today; and examines what can be done to create social and institutional opportunities which will better enable them to live lives they have reason to value. This will include the participation, voices and aspirations of the young people themselves.
• One main issue of SocIEtY is the development of a broad knowledge base to foster socially innovative policymaking which avoids some of the unnecessary shortcomings of current policies.
Theoretical guiding light
Taking the Capability Approach as the conceptual basis, SocIEtY will in particular refer to the concept of “Informational Basis of the Judgement of Justice” (IBJJ) introduced by Amartya Sen (Sen 1990). Thus the project will deliver an empirical foundation to broaden the informational basis of local policies in two ways: it will widen the focus on the policy fields of employment and education to a more coherent perspective taking more policy fields into account (1). Secondly, the basis will be informed by a bottom-up perspective, including the voice and aspirations of young people and their participative engagement (2).
Feel free to comment on our topic and findings
You are kindly invited to comment our findings and share your opinions and ideas with us! To do so, please follow the INTERACTIVE MAP, our PUBLICATIONS and/or the TAGS above you are interested in! Via the interactive map you are also welcome to participate in our FORUM to voice and discuss your opinions, suggestions and experiences with regard to the issues of youth, inequality and youth policies in Europe. Furthermore: PLEASE REGISTER TO THE FINAL CONFERENCE ON 9 December 2015 in Brussels (EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT!), the perfect place to discuss about innovative and effective youth policies (EVENTS/MEETINGS)
