The Role of Radical Economic Restructuring in Truancy from School and Engagement in Crime

Stephen Farrall,Emily Gray,Philip Mike Jones

doi:10.1093/bjc/azz040

Stephen Farrall, Emily Gray + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azz040

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Abstract

AbstractOf late, criminologists have become acutely aware of the relationship between school outcomes and engagement in crime as an adult. This phenomenon—which has come to be known as the ‘school-to-prison-pipeline’—has been studied in North America and the United Kingdom, and requires longitudinal data sets. Typically, these studies approach the phenomenon from an individualist perspective and examine truancy in terms of the truants’ attitudes, academic achievement or their home life. What remains unclear, however, is a consideration of (1) how macro-level social and economic processes may influence the incidence of truancy, and (2) how structural processes fluctuate over time, and in so doing produce variations in truancy rates or the causal processes associated with truancy. Using longitudinal data from two birth cohort studies, we empirically address these blind spots and test the role of social-structural processes in truancy, and how these may change over time.

Highlights

In recent years, scholars, especially those in North America, have shown a renewed interest in what is referred to as the ‘school-to-prison-pipeline’ (Rocque et al, 2017)
Data from the two birth cohorts we rely on are examined and contrasted, before we develop a theoreticallyinformed model of truancy that incorporates socio-economic and political forces and anomic reactions towards formal institutions
Our assumptions about our social worlds make us think that the world is understandable, worth caring about and investing in, and unthreatening to ourselves. Applying this thinking to economic restructuring and truancy, we argue that economic restructuring produces a sense of anomie in pupils at school, and serves to motivate truancy, especially if it involves widespread, long-term parental unemployment and the loss of career pathways which would, had they continued to exist, have helped individuals to navigate the transition from school to work, and which would have provided the basis for independent living, marriage and family formation

Summary

Introduction

Scholars, especially those in North America, have shown a renewed interest in what is referred to as the ‘school-to-prison-pipeline’ (Rocque et al, 2017). The remainder of our paper is constructed as follows: first we outline what is known about truancy and later life-outcomes (including offending) We critique this literature, arguing that it tends to focus on individual-level factors. Data from the two birth cohorts we rely on are examined and contrasted, before we develop a theoreticallyinformed model of truancy that incorporates socio-economic and political forces and anomic reactions towards formal institutions (such as schools and the labour market). This model we test using structural equation modelling, employing longitudinal data from the NCDS and BCS70 birth cohort studies. We end by reflecting upon what our findings contribute to the scholarship on truancy and the ‘school to prison pipeline’

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