Youth Marginality in Britain: Contemporary Studies of Austerity

by Anthony Rudd (Contribution by), Robert Mcpherson (Contribution by), Frances Atherton (Contribution by), Jane Mckay (Contribution by), Sean Murphy (Contribution by)

Overview

Tabloid headlines such as ‘Anti-social Feral Youth,’ ‘Vile Products of Welfare in the UK’ and ‘One in Four Adolescents is a Criminal’ have in recent years obscured understanding of what social justice means for young people and how they experience it. Youth marginality in Britain offers a new perspective by promoting young people’s voices and understanding the agency behind their actions. It explores different forms of social marginalisation within media, culture and society, focusing on how young people experience social discrimination at a personal and collective level. This collection from a wide range of expert contributors showcases contemporary research on multiple youth deprivation of personal isolation, social hardship, gender and ethnic discrimination and social stigma. With a foreword from Robert MacDonald, it explores the intersection of race, gender, class, asylum seeker status and care leavers in Britain, placing them in the broader context of austerity, poverty and inequality to highlight both change and continuity within young people’s social and cultural identities. This timely contribution to debates concerning youth austerity in Britain is suitable for students across youth studies, sociology, education, criminology, youth work and social policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447330547
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	07/28/2017
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Shane Blackman is a Professor of Cultural Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. He received his PhD at the Institute of Education, University of London as an ESRC scholarship student. He is a Research Fellow SFI The Danish National Centre for Social Research, editor of the Journal of Youth Studies and YOUNG: Nordic Journal of Youth Research and a member of the ESRC Peer Review College. He has recently published work on ethnography, subcultural theory, NPS (legal highs), anti-social behaviour and alcohol and young women. Ruth Rogers is a Reader in Social Justice and Inclusion at Canterbury Christ Church University. She has led a large number of research projects working with deprived communities, looked after children and young offenders. She has also conducted research for a range of research councils, voluntary agencies, local authorities and central government. She is interested in research investigating youth and communities on the 'margins', particularly in relation to looked after children, informal support networks and educational disadvantage.

Table of Contents

List of tables and figures vii

Notes on contributors viii

Acknowledgements xi

Foreword Robert MacDonald xii

Part 1 Youth policy, pariahs and poverty 1

1 Critically theorising young adult marginality: historical and contemporary perspectives Shane Blackman Ruth Rogers 3

2 Broken society, anti-social contracts, failing state? Rethinking youth marginality Peter Squires Carlie Goldsmith 23

3 Youth poverty and social exclusion in the UK Eldin Fahmy 43

4 Routine sanctions, humiliation and human struggle: qualitative biographies of young people's experience of live marginality Linda Brooks 65

5 Normalisation of youth austerity through entertainment: critically addressing media representations of youth marginality in Britain Shane Blackman Ruth Rogers 81

Part 2 Intersections of youth marginality: class, gender, ethnicity and education 103

6 Pramface girls? Early motherhood, marginalisation and the management of stigma Mary Jane Kehily 105

7 Leisure lives on the margins: (re)imagining youth in Glasgow's East End Susan Batchelor Lisa Whittaker Alistair Fraser Leona Li Ngai Ling 117

8 Asylum rejected: 'appeal rights exhausted' Afghan care leavers facing return Kim Robinson Lucy Williams 133

9 Responses to the marginalisation of Roma young people in education in an age of austerity in the United Kingdom Jenny van Krieken Robson 149

10 Apprentice or student as alternatives to marginatisation? Patrick Ainley 163

11 A school for our community: critically assessing discourses of marginality in the establishment of a free school Claire Tupling 177

12 The marginalisation of care: young care leavers' experiences of professional relationships Emma Davidson Lisa Whittaker 191

Part 3 Resistance and ethnography 207

13 [B]othered Youth: marginalisation, stop and search and the policing of belonging Seán F. Murphy 209

14 On the margins: the last place to rebel? Understanding young people's resistance to social conformity Jane McKay Frances Atherton 225

15 'Binge' drinking devils and moral marginality: young people's calculated hedonism in the Canterbury night-time economy Robert McPherson 239

16 The new 'spectral army': biography and youth poverty on Teesside's deprived estates Anthony Ruddy 253

17 Conclusions: advanced youth marginality post-Brexit Ruth Rogers Shane Blackman 269

Index 281

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This timely contribution to debates around youth austerity in Britain is a must read for students or academics concerned with how youth is understood and lived in contemporary society" Lisa Russell, University of Huddersfield

"Brings new theoretical and empirical insights into the analysis of youth marginality…. provides a critical voice around the concept of ‘marginality’ creating innovative and radical alternative understandings of the ways it operates…. A must read for scholars and students interested in youth sociology and youth policy" Alan France, University of Auckland

Editorial Reviews

This book is a welcome contribution to the rapidly growing scholarly field exploring the issues and processes of marginalisation, poverty, and exclusion in relation to children and young people – as well as to childhood and youth as concepts, categories, and life stages.” Children’s Geographies

“The book provides a very detailed and informative account of the range of factors contributing to youth marginality in the UK today. It also does an excellent job of challenging prevailing notions and representations of young people in media and policy. [...] [A] balanced, engaging and persuasive account.” People, Place and Policy

From the Publisher

"This timely contribution to debates around youth austerity in Britain is a must read for students or academics concerned with how youth is understood and lived in contemporary society."

Lisa Russell

"Brings new theoretical and empirical insights into the analysis of youth marginality. . . . Provides a critical voice around the concept of ‘marginality’ creating innovative and radical alternative understandings of the ways it operates. . . . A must read for scholars and students interested in youth sociology and youth policy."

Alan France