Governing childhood: neo-liberalism and the law

Bell, Vikki

doi:10.1080/03085149300000026

Cited by 39 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 3 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It has been widely observed that since the 1960s penal welfarism has been undermined by the development of forms of neo-liberal or 'advanced' governance (Bell, 1993;Rose, 1996a and b;Garland, 1996;. This fundamental change in criminal and juvenile justice has been broadly characterized as placing less emphasis on the social contexts of crime and measures of state protection and more on prescriptions of individual/family/community responsibility and accountability.…”

Section: Global Processes 1: From Welfare To Neo-liberal Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

The globalization of crime control—the case of youth and juvenile justice

Muncie

2005

Theoretical Criminology

152

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The concept of globalisation has gradually permeated criminology, but more so as applied to transnational organised crime, international terrorism and policing than in addressing processes of criminal justice reform. So how useful is it in understanding contemporary transformations in systems of youth and juvenile justice? Until the 1970s juvenile justice, was dominated by an entrenched series of debates circulating around the often-nebulous opposition of welfare and punishment. Since then neoliberal assaults on the social logics of the welfare state and public provision, particularly in Britain, USA, Canada and Australasia, have brought profound shifts in economic, social and political relations associated with the 'free market'. In their wake have emerged a renewed penalisation of young people and an emphasis on enforcing individual, family and community responsibility. Simultaneously many jurisdictions worldwide have begun to experiment with restorative justice and the prospect of rehabilitation through mediation. Widely ratified international directives, epitomised by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, have also begun to stress the importance of incorporating a rights consciousness into juvenile justice reform. These diverse trajectories in retribution, responsibility, restoration and rights have created a particularly complex contemporary landscape of youth governance. The concept of globalisation draws attention to the impact that these competing transformations have had on processes of policy and legal convergence. Based on a wide range of bibliographic and web resources, this article assesses the extent to which it is now possible to talk of a global juvenile/youth justice or whether persistent national and local divergences, together with the contradictions of contemporary reform, preclude any aspiration for the delivery of a universal and consensual product.

show abstract

Section: Global Processes 1: From Welfare To Neo-liberal Governancementioning

confidence: 99%

The globalization of crime control—the case of youth and juvenile justice

Muncie

2005

Theoretical Criminology

152

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It has become a relatively uncontroversial notion to suggest that the very concept of 'childhood' is one that is constructed within particular social and historical moments and geographies (Bell, 1993;Wallace, 1995;Buckingham, 2000). Furthermore, children's lives are the most governed spaces of existence (Rose, 1989).…”

Section: Childhood and The Government Of Children's Use Of Technologymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…These discourses can be seen as attempts to mobilise the family in an effort to govern children and adults alike, and understood as being linked to the maintaining of wider sociopolitical order (Bell, 1993). This arrangement is particularly salient owing to the ethical and moral dimensions of the family.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Adolescence is broadly understood -albeit historically and institutionally constructed (Bell, 1993;Wallace, 1995;Buckingham, 2000) -as a liminal time and space in which individuals are acclimated into the ethics and comportment of the self required to successfully manage themselves as functional, responsible adults (Kelly, 2006). While narratives of risk in regards to the behaviour of adolescents are themselves in no way new (Evans et al, 2000;Green et al, 2000;Cieslik & Pollock, 2002;Kelly, 2006), the rapid uptake of various forms of social media (SM), social network sites (SNSs) and the proliferation of informational communication technologies (ICTs) in the last decade have emerged in narratives of risk as a particular set of problems to be managed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Donzelot suggests, governing is not against but rather operates 'through the family' (cited in Bell, 1993, p. 393, author's emphasis). The family, then, is a key space in and through which future productive citizens are 'made up' (Bell, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Framing Narratives of Social Media, Risk and Youth Transitions: Government of ‘Not Yet’ Citizens of Technologically Advanced Nations

Owen

2014

Global Studies of Childhood

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The proliferation of technologies in democracies of the Global North in the last century has often given rise to concerns related to the mediatisation of young people's lives. Recent decades have seen an explosion in the use of social media, social network sites and informational communication technologies among young people, which have in turn generated new sets of concerns relating to their proper use, and the potential consequences that might arise through their improper use. This article canvasses the works of four intellectuals -Baroness Susan Greenfield, Sherry Turkle, Jim Steyer and Raffi Cavoukian -all of whom have recently released books alerting parents to the potential for these technologies to harm their children in the present or the future. It is argued that these contribute to 'life after social networking' and 'moral panic' discourses that are linked to processes of subjectification and offer new sites for political and economic government in neoliberal countries of the Global North.

show abstract