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Disconnected Youth? Social exclusion, the 'underclass' and economic marginality
- Author:
- MaCDONALD Robert
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work and Society: International Online Journal, 6(2), 2008, Online only
- Publisher:
- University of Bielefeld
Most young people in the UK make relatively ‘successful’, unproblematic transitions from school to work and adulthood. What do we call those that do not? Terms with academic and policy currency tend to define such young people by something they are not or by their presumed social and economic distance and dislocation from ‘the rest’. How we might best describe, explain and label the experience and problem of so-called ‘socially excluded’, ‘disconnected youth’ is the focus of the paper. The paper draws upon extensive qualitative research with young adults growing up in some of Britain’s poorest neighbourhoods, looking particularly at their labour market transitions. Some of the problems and inaccuracies of underclass theory and orthodox conceptualisations of social exclusion are discussed in the light of empirical findings. The youthful biographies described are set in a wider panorama of social structure and economic opportunity, particularly the rapid de-industrialisation of the locality studied. Understanding these historical processes of socio-economic change leads to the conclusion that, in short hand, ‘the economically marginal’ is the best descriptive label of the research participants and ‘economic marginalisation’ is the best explanation of their condition.
Youth, transitions and social exclusion: some issues for youth research in the UK
- Author:
- MaCDONALD Robert
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Youth Studies, 1(2), June 1998, pp.163-176.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Studies of the economic restructuring of the UK suggest that the future labour market will be typified by increasing proportions of workers unemployed or subemployed in casual, informal, peripheral, non-standard jobs. The future working lives of many young people will be substantially different from those of their parents' generation. Reviews some of the social problems that have accompanied the fracturing of previous youth transitions and introduces the idea that such problems are indicative of emergence of a deviant, anti-social, anti-work underclass introduced. The focus is upon Teesside in north-east England. Outlines four themes which might inform future research on marginal youth transitions and social exclusion in the UK.
Labours of love: voluntary working in a depressed local economy
- Author:
- MaCDONALD Robert
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Social Policy, 25(1), January 1996, pp.19-38.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge
Explores how people deprived of jobs seek to re-create positive working lives for themselves through voluntary work. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with working-class men and women in Teesside, it explores the motivations and meanings of volunteering and the significance that voluntary action has for work and welfare in such communities. State intervention in the voluntary work sphere is assessed and a number of recommendations are made for policy and practice.
Design for dementia. Volume 1: a guide
- Authors:
- HALSALL Bill, MaCDONALD Robert
- Publisher:
- Halsall Lloyd Partnership
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 120
- Place of publication:
- Liverpool
This guide provides advice for the design of exterior and interior environments, with the aim of promoting the independence of people with dementia and enabling them to live in their own homes for longer. It draws on the findings of four participatory research projects which brought together people living with dementia, health and social care professionals, researchers and business to develop and test out innovative care solutions in real life settings. The guide outlines six key design principles, which contributed to the thinking of the project. These are: familiarity, distinctive environments, legibility, accessibility, comfortable and stimulating environments and safety. It also considers how these principles can be applied to both the internal and external environment. Volume 2 outlines the four research projects and describes the participatory approach adopted for the research. (Edited publisher abstract)
Design for dementia. Volume 2: research projects
- Authors:
- HALSALL Bill, MaCDONALD Robert
- Publisher:
- Halsall Lloyd Partnership
- Publication year:
- 2017
- Pagination:
- 100
- Place of publication:
- Liverpool
This volume provides details of four participatory research projects on building design and dementia, which were used to develop a set of practical guidance in ‘Design for dementia: volume 1: a guide’. It also describes the participatory research approach used in the projects, which brought together people living with dementia, health and social care professionals, researchers and business to develop and test out innovative care solutions in real life settings. The four projects were: The Dementia Friendly Neighbourhood - which looked at how the design of neighbourhoods and communities themselves can help people to live well with dementia; How Dementia Friendly is our City? - which developed the lessons from the Dementia Friendly Neighbourhood to a city scale; Connecting Minds Through Sandplay; and the Design for Dementia Bungalow - which explored the design of an ideal model bungalow with all the features to live well with dementia. (Edited publisher abstract)
The view from below: marginalised young people's biographical encounters with criminal justice agencies
- Authors:
- MaCDONALD Robert, SHILDRICK Tracy
- Journal article citation:
- Child and Family Law Quarterly, 22(2), 2010, pp.186-199.
- Publisher:
- Jordan Publishing
In this article the authors reflect on what can be learnt about criminal justice policy and practice approaches to socially excluded young men and women at risk of offending from detailed, long-term qualitative research. They describe 3 studies involving biographical interviews with young people undertaken in Teesside (2 exploring how working-class young people aged 15 to 25 years make transitions to adulthood in contexts of multiple deprivation, and the third exploring these individuals when they were aged 23 to 29 years), and an evaluation of the Hartlepool Dordrecht Crime Reduction Initiative, a multiagency project offering support to clients including drug treatment, housing, education, employment, leisure and training. The article discusses young men's criminal careers and how young people in the studies experienced elements of the criminal justice system including their encounters with the police and being in prison and on probation, using examples and quotations from the studies. The article concludes that macro-level socio-economic change is the key social structural motor of social exclusion, but that social institutions, including parts of the criminal justice system, can have positive or negative effects for socially excluded young adults.
Disconnected youth?
- Authors:
- MaCDONALD Robert, MARSH Jane
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Youth Studies, 4(4), December 2001, pp.373-391.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
- Place of publication:
- Philadelphia, USA
Drawing on qualitative research on youth transitions in an facing all the objective problems of 'social exclusion', this article explores the ways in which young people are connected to, or disconnected from, mainstream opportunities, lifestyles and outlooks. Case studies are used to uncover the lived experience of single motherhood, drug-related crime and persistent unemployment. These are examined to reveal how they connect, or do not connect, with prevailing academic and policy discourses about 'excluded', 'underclass' youth. Concludes by questioning some of the basic assumptions of government social inclusion policies.
In search of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’: hunting the Yeti and shooting zombies
- Authors:
- MaCDONALD Robert, SHILDRICK Tracy, FURLONG Andy
- Journal article citation:
- Critical Social Policy, 34(2), 2014, pp.199-220.
- Publisher:
- Sage
The idea of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’ has become influential in UK politics and policy, and been used to explain contemporary worklessness and to justify welfare reforms. Workless parents are said to pass on to their children attitudes and behaviours which inculcate ‘welfare dependency’. In its strongest version, politicians and welfare practitioners talk confidently of ‘three generations of families where no-one has ever worked’; even though no study, bar this one, has investigated whether such families actually exist. Solid evidence for intergenerational cultures of worklessness is elusive so this study tested the idea via interviews with twenty families in Glasgow and Middlesbrough that had been long-term workless. Theories of intergenerational cultures of worklessness feel like ‘zombie arguments’ – resistant to evidence and social scientific efforts to kill them off. Regardless, the findings of this critical case study are offered as a fresh batch of ammunition with which to try to do so. (Publisher abstract)
Predicting criminality?: risk factors, neighbourhood influence and desistance
- Authors:
- WEBSTER Colin, MaCDONALD Robert, SIMPSON Mark
- Journal article citation:
- Youth Justice, 6(1), April 2006, pp.7-22.
- Publisher:
- Sage
Using qualitative biographical data from a longitudinal study of youth transitions, criminal careers and desistance, this paper casts doubt on the veracity and predictive power of risk assessment devices such as Asset and Offender Assessment System. These devices, and the research on which they are based, suggest that earlier and current childhood and teenage influences trigger and sustain later re-offending. In contrast, we argue that focus must be shifted to contingent risk factors that accrue in late teenage and young adulthood. Secondly, risk assessment and criminal career research has ignored the influence that unforeseen and unforeseeable processes of neighbourhood destabilization and life events have in criminal careers and their cessation.