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Social exclusion, risk and the life course: The Milltown Boys Howard Williamson
Lecture course outline and seminar programme
LECTURE COURSE OUTLINE
Introduction
1. Introduction - course objectives (about youth, but also about 'origins and destinations' of disadvantaged youth); the Milltown Boys; relationship to 3rd year module Social Policy and Young People; seminar programme; an approach to teaching and learning (each student to select three individuals, from the thirty, and follow their life course trajectories/pathways - some of these individuals to be 'profiled' and analysed by students in spring semester seminars)
2. Contexts: (a) sociological understandings of youth transitions; (b) recent youth policy development; (c) young people and 'disadvantaged neighbourhoods': Milltown
3. Rationale for the empirical study: (a) human interest, (b) 'status zer0' youth, (c) social theory
4. Methodology: (a) the original study, (b) follow-up after 25 years
5. Steven - a case study in continuity [handout]
Public images and private worlds
6. Reflections on schooling and teenage dreams (aspirations)
7. Employment and training
8. Crime
9. Housing
10. Relationships, families and children
11. Peer group
12. Leisure and social activities
13. Health
14. Belief systems (politics and religion)
15. Community involvement and neighbourhood renewal
16. Relationships to the professional world/'scamming' the system
17. Aspirations for their children
18. Regrets
19. The future
20. Self-reflection
Reflection and analysis
21. Trajectories, niches, pathways, navigations? A summary of the life courses of the Milltown Boys
22. Critical moments and wake-up time: explaining significant changes in the life course
23. Rethinking the sociology of youth
24. Thinking about public policy: reach, relevance; impact, influence; exploitation, avoidance
25. Public issues, private troubles?
SEMINAR PROGRAMME
Autumn semester
Students will be required to work in groups to explore past and present literature on youth transitions. Each student group will present, in 15-20 minutes, key arguments about (a) risk/resilience and (b) trajectories/navigations in relation to particular social categories of young people in the context of various social/psychological 'determinants'. This lays the foundation for considering the circumstances and subsequent life course(s) of the Milltown Boys.
Spring semester
At the beginning of the course, students will have been required to select three individuals (from the thirty studied). By the spring semester, they should have built up some 'picture' of these individuals in terms of their life course 'careers' (in, for example, work, crime or relationships) and the extent to which they endeavoured to shape these (or otherwise). Students who have selected the same individual will be expected to work in groups to present a composite profile of that individual and consider the extent to which they have passively acceded to their circumstances or actively sought to influence the direction of their lives.
ASSESSMENT
Formative assessment will take place through both feedback on seminar presentations and through individual tutorials on request and in response to essay plans and assessed written work.
Summative assessment will be 50% through a written essay of between 2,000 and 2,500 words (autumn semester) and 50% through a 1.5 hour class test.
Written essay
The written essay will require students to consider issues of risk and resilience in youth transitions and the extent to which transition outcomes are socially determined. Students may choose whether or not they wish to take a general overview, focus on a specific issue, or adopt a comparative perspective.
Class test
The class test will require students to consider the extent to which the life course of the Milltown Boys supports or challenges contemporary literature on youth transitions. Students will need to be able to locate and explain the life course of individuals within the broader context of the findings from the Milltown study and, in turn, within the prevailing research and policy understandings of transition in relation to 'disadvantaged' youth. READING
Some key reading about young people and social exclusion is provided below:
Further reading of relevance to the themes of discrete lectures will be provided as appropriate. Some such indicative reading follows. It is an eclectic mix, drawing not solely on studies of 'disadvantaged youth' in 'disadvantaged areas' nor solely on British-based studies. Walker's study of education, for example, derives from Australia; Brooks' study of friendship maintenance is based on students moving into higher education; Aggleton looks at transitions of middle-class youth. Comparisons between such material and that which relates more closely to the core focus of the course is both salutary and instructive: it is for you to draw out comparative and analytical messages.
Youth transitions
Allatt, P. (1997), 'Conceptualising youth: transitions, risk and the public and the private', in J. Bynner, L. Chisholm and A. Furlong (eds), Youth, Citizenship and Social Change in a European Context, Aldershot: Ashgate
Anisef, P., Axelrod, P., Baichman-Anisef, E., James, C. and Turrittin, A. (2000), Opportunity and Uncertainty: Life Course Experiences of the Class of '73, Toronto: University of Toronto Press
Aggleton, P. (1987), Rebels without a cause? Middle class youth and the transition from school to work, London: Falmer
Ball, S., Maguire, M. and Macrae, S. (2000), Choice, Pathways and Transitions Post-16: new youth, new economies in the global city, London: RoutledgeFalmer
Banks, M., Bates, I., Breakwell, G., Bynner, J., Emler, N., Jamieson, L. and Roberts, K., (1992), Careers and Identities, Milton Keynes: Open University Press
Barry, M. (2001), Challenging Transitions: Young people's views and experiences of growing up, London: Save the Children
Borland, M. and Hill, M. (1996/7), 'Teenagers in Britain: empowered or embattled?', Youth and Policy 55, pp56-74
Bynner, J. (2001), 'British Youth Transitions in Comparative Perspective', Journal of Youth Studies 4:1, pp5-23
Bynner, J., Ferri, E. and Shepherd, P. (eds) (1997), Twenty-something in the 1990s, Aldershot: Ashgate
Coles, B. (1997), 'Vulnerable youth and processes of social exclusion: a theoretical framework - a review of recent research and suggestions for future research agendas', in J. Bynner, L. Chisholm and A. Furlong (eds), Youth, Citizenship and Social Change in a European Context, Aldershot: Ashgate
Cote, J. (2000), Arrested Adulthood: The changing nature of maturity and identity - what does it mean to grow up?, New York: New York University Press
Cote, J. (2002), 'The Role of Identity Capital in the Transition to Adulthood: The Individualisation Thesis Examined', Journal of Youth Studies 5:2, pp117-134
European Group for Integrated Social Research (2001), 'Misleading Trajectories: transition dilemmas of young adults in Europe', Journal of Youth Studies 4:1, pp101-118
Evans, K. (2002), 'Taking Control of their Lives? Agency in Young Adult Transitions in England and the New Germany', Journal of Youth Studies 5:3, pp245-270
Evans, K. and Furlong, A. (1997), 'Metaphors of youth transitions: niches, pathways, trajectories or navigations', in J Bynner, L Chisholm and A Furlong (eds), Youth, Citizenship and Social Change in a European Context, Aldershot: Ashgate
Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (1997), Young People and Social Change, Buckingham: Open University Press
Holman, B. (1994/5), 'Urban Youth - Not an Underclass', Youth and Policy 47, pp69-77
Horrocks, C. (2002), 'Using life course theory to explore the social and developmental pathways of young people leaving care', Journal of Youth Studies 5:3, pp325-336
Johnston, L., MacDonald, R., Mason, P., Ridley, L. and Webster, C. (2000), Snakes and Ladders: young people, transitions and social exclusion, Bristol: Policy Press
MacDonald, R. (1998), 'Youth transitions and social exclusion: some issues for youth research in the UK', Journal of Youth Studies 1:2, pp28-49
Miles, S. (2000), Youth Lifestyles in a Changing World, Buckingham: Open University Press
Raffo, C. and Reeves, M. (2000), 'Youth Transitions and Social Exclusion: Developments in Social Capital Theory', Journal of Youth Studies 3:2, pp147-166
Roberts, K. (1993), 'Career trajectories and the mirage of social mobility', in I. Bates and G. Risborough (eds), Youth and Inequality, Buckingham: Open University Press
Shildrick, T. (2000), 'Youth culture, the "underclass" and social exclusion', Scottish Youth Issues Journal 1:1, pp9-30
Ule, M. (2002), 'Young People in the Risk Society', in B Tivadar and P Mrvar, Flying Over or Falling through the Cracks: Young People in the Risk Society, Lubljana: Office of the Republic of Slovenia for Youth [xerox available]
Williamson, H. (1993), 'Youth Policy in the United Kingdom and the marginalisation of young people', Youth and Policy 40, pp33-48
Wyn, J. and White, R. (1997), Rethinking Youth, London: Sage
Wyn, J. and Dwyer, P. (1999), 'New Directions in Research on Youth in Transition', Journal of Youth Studies 2:1, pp5-22
Risk, resilience, 'disaffection' and 'social exclusion'
Byrne, D. (1999), Social Exclusion, Buckingham: Open University Press
France, A. (2000), 'Towards a Sociological Understanding of Youth and their Risk-Taking', Journal of Youth Studies 3:3, pp317-332
Green, E., Mitchell, W. and Bunton, R. (2000), 'Contextualising Risk and Danger: An analysis of young people's perceptions of risk'. Journal of Youth Studies 3:2, pp109-126
Helve, H. and Bynner, J. (eds) (1996), Youth and life management: research perspectives, Helsinki: Helsinki University Press
MacDonald, R. (ed.), Youth, the 'Underclass' and Social Exclusion, London: Routledge
McLeod, J. (1995), Ain't No Making It: Aspiration and Attainment in a low-income neighbourhood, London: Westview
Piper, H. and Piper, J. (1998/9), 'Disaffected Youth' - A Wicked Issue: A worse label', Youth and Policy 62, pp32-44
Schoon, I. And Bynner, J. (2003), 'Risk and Resilience in the Life Course: Implications for Interventions and Social Policies', Journal of Youth Studies 6:1, pp21-32
Schooling and aspirations
Bates, I., Clarke, J., Cohen, P., Finn, D., Moore, R. and Willis, P. (eds) (1984), Schooling for the Dole? Against the New Vocationalism, London: Macmillan
Corrigan, P. (1979), Schooling the Smash Street Kids, London: Macmillan
Dwyer, P. and Wyn, J. (2001), Youth, Education and Risk: Facing the Future, London: RoutledgeFalmer
Pearce, N. and Hillman, J. (1998), Wasted Youth: raising achievement and tackling social exclusion, London: Institute for Public Policy Research
Walker, J. (1988), Louts and Legends: Male Youth Culture in an Inner-City School, London: Allen & Unwin
Willis, P. (1978), Learning to Labour, Farnborough: Saxon House
Employment and training
Ashton, D. and Field, D. (1976), Young Workers: the transition from school to work, London: Hutchinson
Ashton, D., Maguire, M. and Garland, M. (1990), Restructuring the labour market: the implications for youth, Basingstoke: Macmillan
Barnes, H. (2002), 'Helping young people to tackle labour market disadvantage', Scottish Youth Issues Journal 5, pp33-50
Brown, R. (1996/7), 'Unemployment, Youth and the Employment Relationship', Youth and Policy 55, pp28-40
Evans, K., Rudd, P., Behrens, M., Kaluza, J. and Woolley, C. (2003), Taking Control? Young adults talking about the future in education, training and work, Leicester: National Youth Agency
Finn, D. (1987), Training without Jobs: new deals and broken promises, London: Macmillan
Furlong, A. (1993), ' The Youth Transition, Unemployment and Labour Market Disadvantage', Youth and Policy 41, pp24-35
Hodkinson, P., Sparkes, A. and Hodkinson, H. (1996), Triumphs and Tears: Young people, markets and the transition from school to work, London: David Fulton
Kalra, V., Fieldhouse, E. and Alam, S. (2001), 'Avoiding the New Deal: A case study of non-participation by minority ethnic young people', Youth and Policy 72, pp63-79
Maguire, S. (2001/2), 'Recent changes in UK education and training policy', Youth and Policy 74, pp40-58
Mars, G. (1982), Cheats at Work: An Anthropology of Workplace Crime, London: Unwin
Pollock, G. (1996), 'Unemployed and under-18: struggling between subsistence and destitution', Youth and Policy 54, pp38-53
Raffe, D. (2003), 'Pathways linking education and work: a review of concepts, research and policy debates', Journal of Youth Studies 6:1, pp3-20
Roberts, K., Adibekian, A., Nemiria, G., Tarkhnishvili, L. and Tholen, J. (1998), 'Traders and Mafiosi: The young self-employed in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine', Journal of Youth Studies 1:3, pp259-278
Crime (and drug misuse)
Audit Commission (1996), Misspent Youth: Young People and Crime, London: Audit Commission
Becker, H. (1963), Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance, New York: Free Press
Brown, K. (2002), 'Young people with a prisoner in the family', Scottish Youth Issues Journal 4, pp111-128
Brown, S. (1998), Understanding youth and crime: listening to youth?, Buckingham: Open University Press
Cloward, R. and Ohlin, L. (1960), Delinquency and Opportunity, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Craine, S. and Coles, B. (1995), 'Alternative Careers: youth transitions and young people's involvement in crime', Youth and Policy 48, pp6-26
Foster, J. (1990), Villains: Crime and Community in the Inner City, London: Routledge
Graham, J. and Bowling, B. (1995), Understanding and Preventing Youth Crime, Home Office Research Study 145, London: Home Office
Hagell, A. and Newburn, T. (1994), Persistent Young Offenders, London: Policy Studies Institute
Matza, D. (1964), Delinquency and Drift, New York: Wiley
Muncie, J. (1999), Youth and Crime, London: Sage
Newburn, T. and Stanko, E. (eds) (1994), Just Boys Doing Business: Men, Masculinities and Violence, London: Routledge
Parker, H., Aldridge, J. and Measham, F. (1997), Illegal Leisure: The Normalisation of Adolescent Recreational Drug Use, London: Routledge
Parker, H., Aldridge, J. and Eggington, R. (2001), UK Drugs Unlimited, London: Palgrave
Rogowski, S. (2000/1), 'Young offenders: their experience of offending and the youth justice system', Youth and Policy 70, pp52-70
See also Youth and Policy 48 (1995): Youth, Crime and Justice special issue
Housing and Homelessness
Ainley, P. (1991), Young People Leaving Home, London: Cassell
Hall, T. (2003), Better times than this: Youth homelessness in Britain, London: Pluto
Madden, M. (2002/3), 'Representing Darren: Understanding Youth Homelessness', Youth and Policy 78, pp26-45
Jones, G. (1995), Leaving Home, Buckingham: Open University Press
Rugg, J. (ed.), Young People, Housing and Social Policy, London: Routledge
Williams, N., Lindsey, E., Kurtz, D. and Jarvis, S. (2001), 'From Trauma to Resiliency: Lessons from former runaway and homeless youth', Journal of Youth Studies 4:2, pp233-253
See also Youth and Policy 59 (1998) Youth Homelessness and Social Exclusion special issue
Relationships, families and children
Brannen, J., Dodd, K., Oakley, A. and Storey, P. (1994), Young people, health and family life, Buckingham: Open University Press
Dennis, N. and Erdos, G. (1992), Families without Fatherhood, London: Institute for Economic Affairs
Finch, J. and Mason, J. (1992), Negotiating Family Responsibilities, London: Tavistock/Routledge
Hutson, S. and Jenkins, R. (1989), Taking the Strain: Families, Unemployment and the Transition to Adulthood, Buckingham: Open University Press
Morrow, V. and Richards, M. (1996), Transitions to Adulthood: A Family Matter?, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Peer group
Brooks, R. (2002), 'Transitional Friends? Young people's strategies to manage and maintain their friendships during a period of repositioning', Journal of Youth Studies 5:4, pp449-467
Duck, S. (1983), Friends for Life: The Psychology of Close Friendships, Brighton: Harvester
Heikkinen, M. (2000), 'Social Networks of the Marginal Young: a study of young people's social exclusion in Finland', Journal of Youth Studies 3:4, pp389-406
Hey, V. (1997), The Company She Keeps: An Ethnography of Girls' Friendships, Buckingham: Open University Press
Jamieson, L. (1998), Intimacy: Personal relationships in modern societies, Cambridge: Polity Press
Pahl, R. (2000), On Friendship, Cambridge: Polity Press
Leisure and social activities
Glyptis, S. (1989), Leisure and Unemployment, Milton Keynes: Open University Press
Hendry, L., Shucksmith, J., Love, J. and Glendinning, A. (1993), Young People's Leisure and Lifestyles, London: Routledge
Leigh, J. (1971), Young People and Leisure, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Roberts, K. (1983), Youth and Leisure, London: Allen and Unwin
Hollands, R. (2002), 'Divisions in the Dark: Youth Cultures, Transitions and Segmented Consumption Spaces in the Night-time Economy', Journal of Youth Studies 5:2, pp153-172
Hollands, R. (2003), Urban Nightscapes:
Health
Brannen, J., Dodd, K., Oakley, A. and Storey, P. (1994), Young people, health and family life, Buckingham: Open University Press
Harnett, R., Thom, B., Herring, R. and Kelly, M. (2000), 'Alcohol in Transition: Towards a Model of Young Men's Drinking Styles', Journal of Youth Studies 3:1, pp61-78
Julkunen, I. (2001), 'Coping and Mental Well-being among Unemployed Youth', Journal of Youth Studies 4:3, pp262-278
Newburn, T. and Shiner, M. (2001), Teenage Kicks? Young people and alcohol: a review of the literature, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Plant, M. and Plant, M. (1992), Risk Takers: Alcohol, Drugs, Sex and Youth, London: Routledge
Rutter, M. and Smith, D. (eds) (1995), Psychosocial Disorders in Young People: Time Trends and their Causes, Chichester: Wiley
Shildrick, T. (2002), 'Young people, illicit drug use and the question of normalisation', Journal of Youth Studies, 5:1, pp35-48
See also: Youth and Policy 71 (2001) Health Special Issue
Belief systems (politics and religion)
Bentley, T. and Oakley, K. (1999), The Real Deal: what young people really think about government, politics and social exclusion, London: Demos
Harrison, L. and Deike, W. (2000), 'Capturing the first time voters: an initial study of political attitudes among teenagers', Youth and Policy 67, pp26-41
Kimberlee, R. (2002), 'Why don't British young people vote at General Elections?', Journal of Youth Studies 5:1, pp85-98
McCulloch, K. (2000), 'Young Citizens: youth work, civic participation and the renewal of democracy', Youth and Policy 68, pp34-45
Wilkinson, H. (1995), No turning back: Generations and the Genderquake, London: Demos
Wilkinson, H. and Mulgan, G. (1995), Freedom's Children: work, relationships and politics for 18-34 year olds in Britain today, London: Demos
***
Abbot-Chapman, J. and Denholm, C. (2001), 'Adolescents' Risk Activities, Risk Hierarchies and the Influence of Religiosity', Journal of Youth Studies 4:3, pp279-298
Bellah, R. (1976), Beyond Belief: Essays in Religion in a Post-traditional world, New York: Harper and Row
Tomasi, L. (ed.) (1999), Alternative Religions among European Youth, Aldershot: Ashgate
Wilson, B. (1982), Religion in Sociological Perspective, Oxford: Oxford University Press
See also Youth and Policy 65 (1999) Spirituality Special Issue
Community involvement and neighbourhood renewal
Campbell, B. (1993), Goliath: Britain's Dangerous Places, London: Methuen [especially chapters 1 and 9]
Coles, B., England, J. and Rugg, J. (2000), 'Spaced Out? Young People on Social Housing Estates: social exclusion and multi-agency work', Journal of Youth Studies 3:1, pp21-33
Measor, L. and Squires, P. (2000), Young People and Community Safety: Inclusion, risk, tolerance and disorder, Aldershot: Ashgate
Wallace, D. and Coburn, A. (2002), '"Space - The Final Frontier" - An exploration of Territoriality and Young People', Scottish Youth Issues Journal 5, pp73-92
Williamson, H. and Middlemiss, R. (1999), 'The Emperor Has No Clothes: Cycles of delusion in community interventions with "disaffected" young men', Youth and Policy 63, pp13-25 [also published in Nolan, P. (ed.), 20 Years of youth & policy: a retrospective, Leicester: The National Youth Agency]
Relationships to the professional world/'scamming' the system
Colley, H. (2001), 'An ABC of Mentors' Talk about Disaffected Youth: alternative lifestyles, benefit dependency or complete dunces?', Youth and Policy 72, pp1-15
Drury, J. and Dennison, C. (1999), 'Individual Responsibility versus Social Category Problems: Benefit Officers' perceptions of communication with young people', Journal of Youth Studies 2:2, pp171-192
Drury, J. and Dennison, C. (2000), 'Representation of Teenagers amongst Police Officers: some implications for their communication with young people', Youth and Policy 66, pp62-87
Aspirations for their children
Seavers, J. and Hutton, S. (2003), With a little help from… their parents?, Leicester: National Youth Agency
***
Regrets
The future
Self-reflection
Reflection and analysis
Trajectories, niches, pathways, navigations? A summary of the life courses of the Milltown Boys
Critical moments and wake-up time: explaining significant changes in the life course
Rethinking the sociology of youth
Thinking about public policy: reach, relevance; impact, influence; exploitation, avoidance
Public issues, private troubles?
Howard Williamson 22nd April, 2003/30th May 2003/7th June 2003
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