Snakes & Ladders: In Defence of Studies of Youth Transition

Abstract

Although enjoying a period of renewed government policy interest and favourable research funding, youth studies has recently come under considerable intellectual attack, much of it from within. A common theme is that the major conceptual approach of most British youth research over the past twenty years - the sociological study of youth transitions - is not helpful in approaching ‘the youth question’. The paper locates these recent critiques in terms of the development of ‘two traditions’ of youth research in the UK; a development which has served to separate structural and cultural analyses and so to limit the theoretical potential of the field. A recent qualitative study of young people growing up in Teesside, Northeast England is then discussed. Close analysis of the biographies of two of its participants are used as the basis for a reconsideration of the nature of transitions amongst ‘socially excluded’ youth and a discussion of some of the limitations of recent critiques of youth studies. The paper argues that the sort of research, methods and analysis employed here provide one example of how interests in the cultural and structural aspects of youth might be integrated. It concludes by reasserting the theoretical value of a broad conceptualisation of transition in understanding the social, economic and cultural processes that define the youth phase.

Hearing new voices: Re-viewing Youth Justice Policy through Practitioners’ Relationships with Young People

“…High-risk activities and environments, as well as involvement in crime, shape their everyday lives (MacDonald et al 2001;Webster et al, 2006). Thus some patterns of offending might be understood as 'healthy adaptations' that allow them to endure adverse, unhealthy and sometimes harmful circumstances (Ungar 2004, p.6).…”

Continuity and change in the experiences of transition from school to work

“…This represented a unique opportunity to examine the long-term impact of the experience of the school to work transition on eventual career path and work histories. As MacDonald et al (2001) suggest, studies of youth transition usually focus only on the age range of 16-19 but 'by looking forwards we can track the outcomes of these early careers to see where they lead as people enter their early and mid-twenties'. Our data enables to us to track the outcomes of transition much further and to build complete and individualised work histories for this group of respondents.…”

Normalisation, youth transitions and austerity

“…As well as linking patterns of drug use to young people's leisure transitions, the original thesis linked drugusing behaviours to transitions in education, family and housing (Aldridge et al 2011). In the past, with colleagues, I have argued that youth transitions need to be understood as dynamic and complex but also that it is most valuable if we can try to understand youth transitions holistically (MacDonald et al 2001;Shildrick 2006). A holistic perspective on youth transitions is important because it allows us to better understand how different elements of youth transitions intertwine and impact on each other.…”