It is commonly acknowledged that the risk of social exclusion has
increased over the last few decades and that young people in particular
are one of the most vulnerable groups, especially if they have not yet
achieved a stable so- cial position. In this context a stable position
is interpreted as having obtained a stable position within the labour
market. Across Europe it has also become commonly acknowledged that
policies have to do 'something' for young people as they represent the
future of present societies. In fact, among politi- cians and policy
administrators there is a broadly shared myth that it is e- nough doing
'anything' for young people. The thematic network 'Misleading
Trajectories' which is documented in the following chapters was
concerned with examining these myths and highlighting the traps of
social exclusion that are inherent in policies focusing on youth
transitions (school, vocational trai- ning, careers advice, social
security, labour market programmes). The net- work was funded by the
European Commission under the 4th Framework Programme for Research,
Technology and Demonstration, under the strand "Targeted Socio-Economic
Research" from 1998 to 2001. It involved teams from eight countries,
which were Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain and the United Kingdom. The network began from the observation
that many policies on the local, regional, national and European level
that are intended to 'lead' young adults' towards gainful employment,
adult status and social integration, are in fact 'misleading'.