Concerns about large groups of ‘socially excluded’ youth dominate the public and policy discourses in South Africa. Available research points to the large numbers of young people who remain unemployed, with poor educational outcomes and low skills levels, possibly engaged in substance abuse or gang-related activities, and living in informal settlements and ‘trapped’ on the outskirts of the country’s cities. However, there is little coherent understanding of the realities that shape young people’s lives, how these change over time or differ from one community to another, and about the way in which youth still manage to make positive decisions in their specific contexts. This lack of understanding severely constrains the ability of policies and interventions to break into these vicious cycles and optimally support youth in their attempts to forge positive and transformative pathways.