A summary of progress towards objectives

GA Annex 1Socio-economic sciences and the Humanities Part 8 Project : Pathways for Carbon TransitionsProject acronym : PACTProject Number: 225503COLLABORATIVE PROJECT: Small or medium-scale focused research project Six months Progress REPORT of WP4 activitiesTask 4.3“Young People’s Human Capital and Social Capital in a Post Carbon Social Life” Silvio Scanagatta – Dario Da Re

A summary of progress towards objectives Main steps • design of the research “Youth, Energy and Future”, • design of the questionnaire and of the essay for students • organization of the data-collection • creation of a web-site where to upload the multi-language questionnaire and • promotion of the research • monitoring of the data collection. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

1. Design of the research “Youth, Energy and future” • Research designed in order to • analyze the cultural, symbolic, and relational differences among European adolescents • collect useful information to understand the conditions and processes that surround European adolescents as they transit through different social networks and use their SC (Social Capital) to construct an identity and develop HC (Human Capital) to face the present time and the future. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

1.1 This comparison between young people’s culture and life styles will provide a laboratory for understanding: • first of all, scenarios expected in a Post Carbon Society (PCS) • secondarily, following the back-casting approach of the PACT project (research question: “where we should go and how to get there?”), the comparison will provide information to understand also scenarios wished in a Post Carbon Society. Both aspects will be viewed in an international perspective. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

1.2 General consideration of the research • A general consideration of the major changes entailed by the PCS, tells they involve the way we’ll be using energies, means of transport, new technologies and resources. However, it will also be crucial to identify the ongoing transformations concerning popular culture and lifestyle • Analyzing youth culture at school – particularly focussing on adolescents – is something we regard as an essential part of our research that - using topics as HC and SC - aims to combine social and economic approaches. Adolescents are the European citizens of the future WP 4.3 – University of Padua

1.3 Steps for research design • Review of researches on some of the study’s main concepts like Human Capital, Social capital, socialization adolescence, youth in Europe, perception of the future (see ex.: Beck, Giddens, Lasch 1999; Dubar 2000; Besozzi 2005; Abdollahian et al. 2008; Saint-Charles, Mongeau 2009; Zimbardo, Boyd 2008; Scanagatta, Maccarini 2009) • The research has been designed using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. • The name given to the research is “Youth, Energy and Future”. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

1.4 The empirical investigation is designed on: • An on-line survey (questionnaire made by open-ended and closed-ended questions) that gathers information regarding HC and SC of the students, as well as information regarding their socio-demographic characteristics and other aspects (see table 1) • An essay (similar to traditional school assignments) which can be written on-line, at the end of the questionnaire above mentioned. The essay is aimed at giving different frameworks on young people’s opinion on socio-economic actors that shape the post-carbon society, and at gathering what are young people’s ideas and opinions that they would like to express to these actors. Reconstructing the frameworks will give us further information to draw the various symbolic meanings about PCS and possible cultural distinctions necessary for the comparative framework WP 4.3 – University of Padua

2. Questionnaire and essay design for the research “Youth, Energy and Future” • It is an instrument to explore how young people view the developments of the different aspects of daily life such as consumption, environmental risks and society in general. • It thus provides information on both ongoing chances and visions of the future which might one day translate into realties, since these visions are also expectations of the future European citizens. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

2.1 Structure of the questionnaire and of the essay • SECTION 1: Yourself (school, values, personality) • SECTION 2: The future you think • SECTION 3: The future you wish • SECTION 4: Socio-demographic data about the family WP 4.3 – University of Padua

Section 1 WP 4.3 – University of Padua

Essay (open space for writing opinions) “If you were to write a letter to the politicians who will decide the future of Europe, what would you write to them” WP 4.3 – University of Padua

3. Organization of the data-collection • After testing the questionnaire and the essay’s theme through pilot-test with adolescents and submitting it to PACT-partners’ attention, we have used feedbacks and observations collected to write the final version of the questionnaire. • This has been uploaded with a software called LimeSurvey (open-source survey application) on a specific web page. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

4. creation of a web-site where to upload the multi-language questionnaire • The questionnaire can be found at http://www.cityrights.eu/pact/. • The questionnaire has been translated into 5 different languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) • The average time requested to fill in the questionnaire is 45 minutes per questionnaire • On the presentation web page, it is clearly underlined that data will be treated completely ANONYMOUSLY and that, furthermore, results will be presented in an aggregated form, so that privacy of each interviewee will be protected WP 4.3 – University of Padua

4.1. Web-site: www.cityrights.eu/pact/ WP 4.3 – University of Padua

5. Promotion of the research • The survey has been presented by using different media and channels of communication. A letter of presentation of the research has been written and translated into 5 different languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish). The research team has prepared also a short booklet for instructions for schools (available in English). • Channels used to promote the survey have been: • via fax, e-mail, telephone to European networks of schools, European networks of school directors, European networks of students-exchange associations • e-mails directed to European Schools directors (indicated by well-known opinion leaders in pedagogy, sociology and education at the University of Padova – using a snow-ball technique). • promotion of the survey at some specific workshops and seminars about youth, energy and future (example: at the Seminar “Energy Governance. Governing Pathways towards Future Energy” organized by Maurizio Sajeva, Milan Polytechnic, April 22nd, 2009). WP 4.3 – University of Padua

5.1 via web-links: • on www.cityrights.eu/pact/ • on www.pact-carbon-transition.org/ (where you can find a specific box asking for schools' kind cooperation for the international research “Youth, Energy and Future”) WP 4.3 – University of Padua

6. monitoring of the data collection • At present, we have contacted directly approximately 80 different schools all over Europe and collected questionnaire from Germany, France, Finland, Italy, Turkey. • The data collection through the web-site will continue approximately until 31st June 2009. • A draft of the research-report, which describes the project, its aims, method and preliminary results is written in progress. WP 4.3 – University of Padua

Thank you for your kind attention. For further information: energy-future@cityrights.eu Or visit: www.cityrights.eu/pact

A summary of progress towards objectives