Youth The Underclass And Social Exclusion

The idea that Britain, the US and other western societies are witnessing the rise of an underclass of people at the bottom of the social heap, structurally and culturally distinct from traditional patterns of `decent' working-class life, has become increasingly popular in the 1990s. Anti-work, anti-social, and welfare dependent cultures are said to typify this new `dangerous class' and `dangerous youth' are taken as the prime subjects of underclass theories. Debates about the family and single-parenthood, about crime and about unemployment and welfare reforms have all become embroiled in underclass theories which, whilst highly controversial, have had remarkable influence on the politics and policies of governments in Britain and the US, Youth, the `Underclass' and Social Exclusion constitutes the first concerted attempt to grapple with the underclass idea in relation to contemporary youth. It focuses upon unemployment, training, the labour market, crime, homelessness, and parenting and will be essential reading for students of social policy, sociology and criminology.

How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they become a 'lost generation' disconnected from society's mainstream? Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare dependent underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the so-called 'disaffected', 'disengaged' and 'difficult-to-reach'? Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities suffering social exclusion in extreme form, Disconnected Youth? will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor neighbourhoods.

Adolescence is often portrayed as an age of particular risk. Adolescents are not only considered a risk to themselves, but also to the rest of society. As a society, we are nervous of them, and consider them vulnerable, yet the seeds of successful and independent adult life are laid down in adolescence, and they need all the help and support that they can get at a challenging time. Adolescents at Risk: Against the Odds looks in depth at some of the key risks faced by adolescents, and at some of the ways in which they can be alleviated. The book is structured according to the operational challenges the research informs.

Focusing on one particularly deprived area, this study explores how young people from the same place, facing the same limited opportunities and with similar socio-economic backgrounds, follow diverse routes into early adulthood, with strikingly different results. Using in-depth qualitative accounts, the report identifies themes that can be used to understand how young people become adults, looking at: the diversity and complexity of transitions; the influence of the local area; processes of inclusion and exclusion; the influence of the family; employment and the local economy; and crime and drug use. The report concludes with policy recommendations particularly in relation to the Government's new Connexions strategy and service.

Diversity and Homogeneity explores current issues related to the nation, ethnicity and gender in literature, film, media and theatrical performance in both the UK and the USA. Employing a broad research framework, it investigates the problematics of migration, nomadism, nationhood, citizenship, patriotism, terrorism, totalitarianism, social and racial equality, as well as masculinity and femininity in modern multicultural societies. Keenly attuned to questions of alterity, social and cultural fluidity, and heterogeneous forms of identity, yet also sensitive to contemporary unifying tendencies informing an increasingly globalized world, the volume’s contributions critically interrogate and challenge the traditional notions attached to the three overarching categories of the book’s title.

Youth Policy and Social Inclusion takes a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to identify and analyze the factors which promote or discourage social inclusion of young people in society today.

This is a clear, jargon-free and accessible textbook which will be invaluable in helping to explain concepts, theories and trends within youth studies. It raises questions for discussion, with international case studies and up-to-date examples.