The Spatial Dimension of Risk: Young Peopleʹs Perceptions of the Risks and Uncertainties of Growing Up in Rural East Germany

Young people have been identified as one of the groups most severely affected by postsocialist transformation processes (McAULEY, 1995; BRAKE & BÜCHNER, 1996; KOLLMORGEN, 2003). They are growing up at a time that is characterized by the need for reorientation due to the collapse of state socialism and its far-reaching economic, political and cultural consequences (YOUNG & LIGHT, 2001). Young people in post-socialist countries are thus often described as facing additional risks and uncertainties to create their own biographies (BRAKE & BÜCHNER, 1996; WERZ, 2001).