| After the demise of the Soviet Union, youth in independent Azerbaijan have entered a period when not only has the system that guided their advancement toward adulthood lost formal structures, but the strong, multiplex social ties that lent social support and security have also loosened. The latter results from increased governmental control as much as reveals a necessary means to sustain other changes underway.;I argue that social ties unravel as part of a historical strategy of social adjustment. Young people, because of the loosened ties are better able to form and use appropriate social capital in response to structural change. This practice promotes the inclusion of others while maintaining cultural continuity. To understand this phenomenon, this work attempts to deconstruct the concept of youth by exploring it as a continuum and the way it allows individuals to adjust to new situations.;The research is based on a year long period of ethnographic fieldwork performed in a provincial town in northwestern Azerbaijan during 2001 and 2002. The text describes how aspiring youth form and use social relations while providing relevant social, political, and historic context. Central to the work are the insights provided by representatives born between 1950 and 1990. Conclusions also draw upon the author's experience as a development practitioner in the region since 1993 and subsequent research efforts through 2007.;As an effort dedicated to understanding youth development and social change, social capital receives special attention. The project redresses a gap in this field by demonstrating how young people use informal social relations, including the formation of networks. It also addresses critical issues central to globalization in a post-Soviet context, including open markets participatory governance, and the middle class. Additional material concerns topics such as historical contexts, school enrolment, professional pathways, civic engagement, corruption, fictive kinship, and hospitality.;Keywords: social capital, social ties, post-Soviet, ethnography, youth development, applied anthropology, Caucasus, hospitality, honor system, modernization, globalization, education, social change, social structure. |
