Towards the Enablement of 'Unqualified' Rural Youth: A Structurationist Perspective on Socially Inclusive Policy Interventions

Abstract

In an era when governments are keen to adopt 'quick-fix' solutions to the problems of social exclusion, there is particular need to reclaim the more 'enabling' aspects of socially inclusive policy interventions aimed at young people. In the context of debates concerning social exclusion, the present paper asks: How can we judge if policy interventions are working towards the social inclusion of young people in an empowerment sense? How might we conceptually explain and empirically examine the connection between such interventions and their potentially empowering effects on young people? The paper seeks to advance our understanding of socially inclusive policy interventions within a structurationist framework, particularly in terms of how they seek to mobilize young people's 'resources' as defined by Giddens. To demonstrate the substantive issues entailed within such an analysis, the present paper makes use of empirical evidence from an 'enabling' education/training programme for 'unqualified' rural youth (mainly early school-leavers) in the West of Ireland known as 'Youthreach'.