Working-class Young People Research Articles

O jovem como sujeito social

Discute como jovens das camadas populares, com base em seu cotidiano, constroem determinados modos de ser jovem. Nessa construção colocam em questão uma série de noções e representações correntes sobre a juventude. Toma como foco o cotidiano de integrantes de grupos musicais de rap e funk, buscando revelá-los na sua condição de jovens, para além da sua participação nos grupos musicais. Constata que os jovens, mediados pelos estilos, reelaboram as imagens correntes sobre a juventude, criando modos próprios de ser jovem, e expressam a reivindicação do direito à juventude.

'Knowing their limits'? Identities, inequalities and inner city school leavers' post-16 aspirations

This paper draws upon data collected from 20 working class, inner city pupils in a British (London) school (in Year 11, aged 15/16 years) as part of a research study exploring the ways in which young people understand their options and identities. Pilot study data is used to develop an analysis of the processes through which inner city, working class young people come to leave school at the age of 16. Attention is drawn to issues of identity and inequality within processes of leaving education. In particular, we highlight the ways in which the young people viewed themselves as ‘not good enough’ and ‘knew their limits’ in relation to post-compulsory educational routes. It is suggested that these views were constructed and compounded by complex social and institutional factors, and were exacerbated by educational policies that impact upon inner city ‘failing’ schools and disadvantaged communities.

Imagined Adulthood: Resources, plans and contradictions

In this paper we illustrate the contradictory consequences of female individualization by exploring young people's imagined futures, drawing on an analysis of 'lifelines' collected as part of an ongoing longitudinal qualitative study of young people's transitions to adulthood. We discuss the method and compare lifelines across the sample. We suggest that while there are areas of consensus (such as the hetero-normative goal of marriage and children by 35) the traditionally gendered transitions to adulthood are under pressure, a pressure that is exerted most strongly by working class young people. Through three contrasting case studies we illustrate how the ways in which young people imagine their futures are constrained by the resources and possibilities of their particular social locations.

'Higher than Einstein': constructions of going to university among working-class non-participants

Despite a vast increase in numbers in higher education, the lower socio-economic groups continue to be under-represented. Many reasons have been put forward for this: they include institutional and financial factors; low academic achievement and aspirations; lack of knowledge of HE; and perceptions of universities as élitist. While a number of studies have identified knowledge and perceptions of HE as factors that may deter working-class groups from aspiring to go to university, there has been limited investigation of the views of those who do not enter HE. This study focuses on constructions of going to university among young working-class non-participants. Drawing on data collected in focus groups, it analyses the discourses used in talking about entry qualifications, financial arrangements, studying at university and students. It is suggested that these young working-class people are to some extent aware of the hierarchy of HE entry routes and institutions and that they believe that the openings most easily accessible to them constitute a second rate form of HE.

‘Higher than Einstein’: constructions of going to university among working-class non-participants

Despite a vast increase in numbers in higher education, the lower socio-economic groups continue to be under-represented. Many reasons have been put forward for this: they include institutional and financial factors; low academic achievement and aspirations; lack of knowledge of HE; and perceptions of universities as élitist. While a number of studies have identified knowledge and perceptions of HE as factors that may deter working-class groups from aspiring to go to university, there has been limited investigation of the views of those who do not enter HE. This study focuses on constructions of going to university among young working-class non-participants. Drawing on data collected in focus groups, it analyses the discourses used in talking about entry qualifications, financial arrangements, studying at university and students. It is suggested that these young working-class people are to some extent aware of the hierarchy of HE entry routes and institutions and that they believe that the openings most easily accessible to them constitute a second rate form of HE.

Learning to Serve? Employment aspirations and attitudes of young working-class men in an era of labour market restructuring

Economic restructuring in cities in advanced industrial nations has, perhaps for the first time in more than a century, resulted in young working-class people facing poorer economic prospects than their parents did at the same age. For poorly educated and low-skilled young men, in particular, the decline in urban manufacturing employment means that their employment opportunities are limited and the possibilities of gaining and retaining relatively well-paid work have declined in the final decades of the twentieth century. As the socially-valued attributes of masculinity are so dependent upon economic participation, the loss of work for men is seen by many commentators as a crisis, and it has undoubtedly led to increases in poverty, as well as being associated with rises in suicide rates, especially among younger men. In this article, the author explores the ways in which young men on the verge of entering the labour market think about themselves and their employment opportunities. The article is based on interviews with low-achieving young men in Cambridge and Sheffield who were in the final year of compulsory schooling and beginning to think about their working lives.

‘What about the boys?’: Regendered Local Labour Markets and the Recomposition of Working Class Masculinities

Abstract This paper arises out of our recent work investigating the construction of masculinities. During the research, the issue of the interplay between masculine subjectivities and social destinies became a major concern. This paper seeks to complement parallel studies being conducted with young women on the fashioning of feminine identities. It is suggested here that changing masculine subject positions need to be located within the interrelated nexus of the restratification of state schooling, the restructuring of local labour markets, the development of diverse family forms, recent media representations of masculinities and the resulting reconstitution of working class young people. The primary focus of this paper is to argue the case for bringing together recent relevant literatures around these issues. This will enable us to develop theory‐led empirical research that explores the processes involved in young working class men's new transitions into becoming adults, within the context of training re...

Tracing the contours: Feminist research and feminist objectivity

This paper discusses Donna Haraway's 1988 arguments about feminist objectivity and situated knowledges. The author suggests that in order for feminist research to enhance feminist objectivity, as outlined by Haraway, it is necessary to delineate some principles or criteria according to which research could be evaluated. The author argues that the three elements which Haraway points to as being central to any discussion of feminist objectivity—accountability, positioning, and partiality—lead to three questions, which, in turn frame criteria and principles according to which research may be defined as implementing the goal of feminist objectivity. It is these three criteria—reinscription, micropolitics and difference—which are discussed and defined in this paper. The author uses the example of her recent research with young working class people in Britain to demonstrate how the criteria may be used to implement and enhance the projects for developing feminist objectivity.

Transitions to nowhere: The effects of government policies on young working class people's access to employment/training

Transitions to nowhere: The effects of government policies on young working class people's access to employment/training

Making ends meet: Young people, work and the criminal economy

This paper attempts to locate changes in young people's involvement in crime, and the policing of young people, within the context of a changing political economy and the broken transitions experienced by a significant proportion of young men and young women. It begins by significant proportion of young men and young women. It begins by discussing how many young working class people have been excluded from the formal waged economy due to structural changes in the labour market. The paper then explores the relationship between the “cash crisis” affecting many unemployed school leavers, and their income and lifestyle options in the spheres of the informal waged economy, the informal unwaged economy, and the criminal economy

Livelihood and Social Division

Abstract The struggle for livelihood has always been of central concern to working class people. In Australia today the concentration of unemployment raises issues which must be seen as part of an historical process, involving the reconstruction of social division and the struggle for the right to subsistence. These issues are examined in this article, with particular attention to the social and economic changes which have produced this threat to livelihood. Our research has shown that the responses of working class young people to this situation bring into sharp relief the complex social processes through which social division is produced. The evidence suggests that the cultural perspectives of working class males and females in Australia still have a force and significance which represent a potential challenge to the present pattern of restructuring of the economy which has resulted in such widespread unemployment. This raises particular questions about the growth in local employment initiatives in Australia (as in Europe) and its implications for curriculum development in schools in working class neighbourhoods.