See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/283483966

Future agendas in the sociology of youth

Article in Youth Studies Australia · September 2011

CITATIONS READS

15 2,454

1 author:

A. Furlong
University of Glasgow
96 PUBLICATIONS 4,912 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by A. Furlong on 15 December 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Future agendas in the
sociology of youth
The various contributions to this edition of Youth Studies Australia reflect
further on future priorities in youth studies. It is argued that contemporary
world trends and events are transforming young people’s lives and raising
a series of important and exciting challenges for the discipline. To address
these new challenges, youth researchers must move out of their traditional
comfort zones, begin to address new, global, issues and find new ways
of collaborating, across disciplines and across continents, on ambitious
research agendas.

A
by Andy Furlong ny reflection on the future directions and priorities for the sociology of youth is likely to be
controversial as a result of the breadth and diversity of the field of study. Youth studies is as
broad as its parent discipline and is built on a variety of theoretical perspectives. Theoretical
trends in sociology inevitably lend shape to our research agenda and to the ways in which we shape
questions and advance explanation (Evans & Furlong 1997). It is also true that the study of youth is
still largely divided by a “transition” and a “cultural” set of perspectives: an issue significant enough
to be marked by a special edition of the Journal of Sociology later this year. The papers presented in
the ‘Future of youth sociology’ symposium at The Australian Sociological Association Conference
in 2010, and elaborated in this special edition of Youth Studies Australia, neatly reflect the diversity
of agendas among youth sociologists and provide a timely opportunity to take stock of our position
and reflect on our priorities.
For most of us working in the field, youth sociology is an exciting and dynamic area of study
as it illuminates the key areas of sociology: social change, the reproduction of social inequalities,
cultural dynamics, generational relationships and the dynamics of the relationship between social
structure and culture. It is a rapidly changing area of study that is always at the forefront of academic
debate, with Australia and the UK being at the vanguard. At the present time, the field is particu-
larly interesting as we are living through a time of rapid and far-reaching change: globally we are

58 Youth Studies Australia VOLUME 30 NUMBER 2 2011

witnessing events that have far-reaching implica- the cultural “other”, raise their borders and
tions for young people, and for the future of our stigmatise those seeking refuge from global
societies. It may be hard to predict where we will events triggered by western excesses and
end up, but it is clear that a focus on youth will irresponsibilities. Among those who remain
give us a very effective handle on change. in their home countries, phenomenally high
rates of unemployment among the young
within oil-rich and corrupt regimes are already
Global contexts and
triggering hostility and revolt among the young,
future uncertainty leading to far-reaching political change.
There is a certain logic to beginning a discussion Youth sociology very often has a western-
of future agendas by focusing on some of the centric focus and trends are discussed with
big world trends and events that are likely to little reference to the very different sets of issues
transform the lives of all citizens of the global facing young people in less advanced societies.
north and south and lead to new inequalities Indeed, Pam Nilan argues that many of the key
and new uncertainties. Two phenomena are concepts that shape contemporary discussion
worth highlighting: conflict and security, and within youth studies have little mileage when
global warming and events likely to be triggered applied to young people in non-western
by climate change. societies. Many of the interpretive frameworks
Conflict and security has never been a big that we treat as universally applicable, are
issue in youth studies, yet its importance is based on western assumptions and observations
obvious. Western societies are involved in a and have little currency outside the economi-
growing number of wars and conflicts, with the cally advanced societies. Here Nilan highlights
consequences likely to be felt close to home, as the idea of choice biographies and processes
disquiet about hidden agendas, injustice and of individualisation, arguing that in many
brutalities provokes civil unrest and terrorist non-western societies collectivist traditions
responses. In many western societies, conflict remain strong and family traditions and
and suspicion about Muslim citizens is leading obligations continue to shape youth and young
to new forms of intolerance and is dividing adulthood, while marriage and parenthood still
communities. These are issues that certainly define adulthood. More fundamentally, in many
deserve a greater prominence in the sociology of African countries employment is a minority
youth. experience and life expectancy is under 50
In this volume, Rob White (2011) rightly years. In Swaziland, for example, average life
highlights the importance of global warming expectancy is under 40; an age some westerners
and climate change: events also likely to regard as part of young adulthood.
trigger new conflicts and insecurities. In this In youth studies, our idea of what constitutes
context, White presents a vivid picture of a international comparative work is all too often
contemporary crisis of civilisation, linked to focused on two or more western societies and
conflicts triggered by climate change, which little attempt has been made to critique our
have far-reaching implications for young key concepts through research in non-western
people globally. The suffering of populations, societies. As Nilan argues, “youth sociology
caused by disasters such as floods, drought and … remains somewhat stuck in the very global
tsunamis, results in new conflicts between and status divisions of inequality that the sociolog-
within countries and leads to new diasporas ical endeavor explicitly seeks to unsettle” (2011).
as people try to make a life for themselves In sociology, Epsing-Anderson’s (1990) work has
under deteriorating environmental conditions. made us think more clearly about the ways in
Young people, in particular, may seek personal which different welfare regimes in the western
solutions through migration, or seek collective world impact on core experiences, and these
solutions through political change. As White ideas have surfaced in youth sociology. It is now
points out, “environmental refugees” face the time to begin to develop typologies that help
hostility of western populations who, fearing us make sense of young people’s experiences
for their economic security and concerned about in global contexts through the development of

Youth Studies Australia VOLUME 30 NUMBER 2 2011 59

 research networks that cross the North–South social class in ways that make sense in the 21st
divide. century, and even to question the orthodoxy of
embedding class in employment relationships.
While most sociologists continue to use
Culture and social reproduction
occupations as primary proxies for class, youth
All too often, contemporary work on cultural sociologists have become increasingly aware
dimensions of young people’s lives has focused of the difficulties in making linkages between
on the spectacular, sidestepping core sociological class and employment. It remains true that
concerns relating to the ways in which inequali- destinations can still be predicted by reference
ties are reproduced across generations. Of to parental occupation, income and education,
course early work within the cultural tradition but young people’s journeys and their
(such as the work associated with members of reflexive negotiation and interpretation of their
the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, experiences may be a poor reflection of their
like Paul Willis (1977)) explicitly linked cultural objective positioning within social structures.
resistance among young people to the dynamics In education, for example, the experiences
of class. of young people from different social classes
In my view, the focus on understanding the were once distinct and visible. Social class
dynamics of social reproduction in an era of largely determined the type of secondary school
rapid social change is part of our core mission as a young person attended and the stage at
sociologists: this is especially true in the present which they left full-time education. Today the
context where the most vulnerable face new stratification of education is less distinct and the
risks, and some of the small gains that have been majority of young people, including those from
made in the recent past are endangered. working-class families, experience postcompul-
However, if we accept that youth identities sory education. Higher education too has been
now lack clear links to social class, we must transformed from an elite to a mass experience
explore new understandings of processes and large numbers of working-class students
of social reproduction in youth and young are admitted to university. This is not to argue
adulthood and of the role of cultural dynamics that social class has become a weak predictor
in the process. Here Andy Bennett (2011) argues of educational experiences, rather, new forms
that we need to consider structural experience of differentiation have emerged, which make it
as reflexively managed through the creative more difficult to observe class-based stratifica-
appropriation of cultural resources. In particular, tion.
he acknowledges the need to develop new Similar processes, which have also resulted
understandings of the ways structured inequali- in a blurring of class divisions, can be identified
ties are negotiated through cultural practices in the labour market. With a serious decline
and presents culture as a process within which in unskilled manual jobs, and with education
people are active in shaping their social milieu. becoming more crucial to employment
Bennett’s argument is highly valid and outcomes, divisions in the labour market
moves some way towards bridging the gap in have become blurred and it has become more
traditions. Most youth researchers, including common for young people from different
some of those associated with post-subcultur- social classes to spend periods of time working
alism, recognise that structural issues relating together. In retail environments and in call
to class, gender, race etc. remain important. centres, for example, middle-class students
However, in terms of the relevance of social frequently spend time working with colleagues
class, it would be very wrong to place the from a variety of class backgrounds. Students
blame for the “death of class” at the door of the are frequently engaged in low-paid, low-skill
cultural sociologists. As someone who remains jobs, and university graduates may have to
wedded to the concept of class, I recognise that tolerate poor jobs until they enter professional
it is increasingly difficult to defend the concept and managerial sectors of the economy (and of
as it is operationalised in mainstream sociology. course some never will obtain graduate jobs).
We need to place a priority on re-framing While job titles and educational profiles may

60 Youth Studies Australia VOLUME 30 NUMBER 2 2011

provide researchers with snapshot information would argue that it is, then it is inevitable that
on occupations, which is then used as a we put efforts into understanding the dynamics
proxy for class position, to be meaningful it is of class and the way we “become”, live out and
necessary to develop a holistic picture of young interpret positions in unequal power structures.
people’s situations and interpretations within This can be done without being deterministic or
the contexts of their resources (such as social reverting to old-fashioned Structure–Conscious-
and cultural capital and qualifications) and ness–Action models. Where I wholeheartedly
transitions. agree with Kelly (2011) relates to the need to
Youth researchers have at their disposal a push on the limits of what counts as knowledge
wealth of information about the ways in which and to stretch our sociological imaginations to
young people perceive social divisions in open up new spaces for investigation.
the new modernity and of the ways in which Johanna Wyn (2011) is unconcerned about
they negotiate these divisions through youth close engagement between policymakers,
cultures. A key task now is to begin to reframe practitioners and youth researchers, which can
social class in ways that take it beyond its have benefits for all. However, like Kelly, she
industrial heritage, making it responsive to the has some very valid concerns about the impact
conditions of late modernity. This can only be of policymakers on sociological perspectives;
achieved through a greater convergence of the particularly the ways in which assumptions that
cultural and transition perspectives. underpin youth policy have been transferred
unquestioningly to youth research. In her article,
Wyn (2011) draws attention to the “invisibility”
Imagined futures
of families both in policy and in youth research.
The idea of presenting or predicting future The contemporary circumstances of youth
agendas in youth studies is troubling for some have increased young people’s reliance on their
academics because it avoids confronting the role families, especially when it comes to subsidising
of experts (be they sociologists, policymakers prolonged transitions and extended educational
or practitioners) in shaping the ways in which engagement. Here Wyn argues that normative
knowledge about youth is constructed and assumptions, especially those imported from
problematised in institutionalised spaces. Both developmental psychology, have restricted
Kelly (2011) and Wyn (2011) are critical about our vision and impeded the development of
the extent to which youth sociologists have effective youth policy.
failed to fully acknowledge the ways in which Wyn also draws attention to the ways in
the assumptions of policymakers, their repre- which changing patterns of family support have
sentations of youth, and their definition of the implications for patterns of inequality and may
“problems” faced by contemporary youth have serve to restrict social mobility. This is an area
shaped our own agendas and blinkered our of research that deserves much more attention.
vision. Peter Kelly is particularly concerned that The available evidence strongly suggests that
we have become preoccupied with ideas of risk, rates of social mobility are likely to decline,
transition and generation, while Wyn argues with those who lack access to financial support
that we have not seriously engaged with the through the family finding their opportunities
ways in which families shape experiences. severely restricted. Generational conflict may
While Kelly is right to argue that the also intensify as contemporary youth come to
narrative of “becoming” tends to be normatively terms with the broader implications of the new
constructed in the sense of being underpinned socioeconomic environment.
by ideas of a preferred future, we must In Europe there are signs of increased unrest
remember that this preferred future is often one among young people about nuclear power, the
that young people wholeheartedly buy into: the handling of national debts and student funding.
preferred future of being financially secure, of Yet in youth sociology, politics has always been
having access to rewarding and fulfilling jobs relatively neglected: young people don’t vote
and relationships, and so on. If one of our key and therefore are not of interest to politicians
concerns is about issues of social justice, and I and they are not particularly active in party

Youth Studies Australia VOLUME 30 NUMBER 2 2011 61

 author
politics. But this situation is changing in front and very understandable anger. In particular,
of our eyes – particularly in Europe – where the Lib-Dems, who went into coalition with
Andy Furlong young people’s anger at the political classes the Tories and helped bring about the changes,
is Professor of
and the older generation is clearly visible. Here are seen as having sold young people down
Social Inclusion
and Education at we are seeing the first signs of a conflict against the river. The Lib-Dems made public pledges
the University of an older generation who took everything and prior to the election not to support a rise in
Glasgow, Scotland. left their kids to pick up the bill for their own tuition fees, and this promise may have won
He is an educational gold-plated pensions and lifestyles. them some marginal seats with large student
sociologist with
Guy Standing (2011) has argued that a new populations. However, in negotiating the
a long-standing
interest in youth, class, which he refers to as the “Precariat”, has coalition agreement with the Tories, this pledge
with a particular emerged who exist in conditions of insecurity was swiftly abandoned and, to the outrage of
emphasis on social and who are becoming increasingly resentful. student groups, they subsequently helped pass
justice and the Young people form a large group within the a Bill that raised tuition fees threefold. Policies
reproduction of
Precariat. As one young person put it: that maintain the provision of non-means-tested
inequalities. Andy
is editor-in-chief … baby boomers had free education, affordable free bus passes and winter fuel allowances for
of the Journal of house[s ?], fat pensions, early retirement and the over-60s were also retained so as not to upset
Youth Studies. His second homes. We’ve been left with education older voters, while the young were left to face
recent books include on the never-never [student debt] and a property the brunt of the cuts. In such circumstances it
the Handbook ladder with rotten rungs. And the financial may be time to revisit Mannheim (1952) and his
of youth and
system which made our parents rich has left us ideas about generational conflict.
young adulthood
choosing between crap job or no job (Standing One of our jobs as sociologists is to promote
(Routledge, 2009);
Higher education 2011, p.66). a public awareness of the ways and extent to
and social justice Ani Wierenga (2011) has highlighted some which young people’s conditions are deterio-
(with Fred Cartmel,
of the implications for young people that are rating in contemporary contexts, supported
Open University
Press, 2009) and a related to these new contexts of insecurity: by strong research evidence: this must be our
new, fully revised their ambivalence about shared futures and core agenda. To move this agenda forward, we
edition of Young the anxiety beneath their apparent confidence, need new models of collaboration: we need to
people and social “if we can scratch the surface”. There is a clear develop more imaginative ways of tackling what
change (with Fred
sense of dislocation, despite retaining some is a big agenda. Complex problems need team
Cartmel, Open
University Press, optimism about their personal futures. These approaches – we also need partnerships between
2007). trends have clear implications for subjective young and older researchers, teams that span
wellbeing, for patterns of social engagement and areas of youth studies that have tended to
for intergenerational conflict. remain apart, and international collaborations.
So far the Australian economy has been
relatively unscathed by the global recession, but
References
the economic collapse has had huge implica-
tions for young people in most advanced Bennett, A. 2011, ‘The continuing importance of the
societies. State bankruptcy and the robbing of “cultural” in the study of youth’, Youth Studies
the younger generation to protect the benefits Australia, v.30, n.3, pp.
of the older generation are clearly resented. Epsing-Anderson, G. 1990, The three worlds of welfare
Benefits for young people are being seriously capitalism, Polity, Cambridge.
cut back; in many countries there are not going Evans, K. & Furlong, A. 1997, ‘Metaphors of youth
to be many openings in the public sector for a transitions: Niches, pathways, trajectories or navi-
number of years and older workers are riding gations’, in Youth, citizenship and social change in a
the crisis by staying at work longer, blocking European context, eds J. Bynner, L. Chisholm & A.
off openings for the younger generation. In Furlong, Avebury, Aldershot.
Ireland and Greece right now, young people Kelly, P. 2011, ‘An untimely future for youth studies?’,
are being drawn to the streets to protest. Spain, Youth Studies Australia, v.30, n.3, pp.
Portugal and even Belgium may be next. In Mannheim, K. 1952, ‘The problem of generations’, in
the UK, the radical changes in student finance Essays on the sociology of knowledge, ed. P. Kecskemeti,
that are to be introduced have brought out real Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.

62 Youth Studies Australia VOLUME 30 NUMBER 2 2011

 Nilan, P. 2011, ‘Youth sociology
must cross cultures’, Youth
Studies Australia, v.30, n.3, pp.
Standing, G. 2011, The precariat:
The new dangerous class,
Bloomsbury, London.
White, R. 2011, ‘Climate change,
uncertain futures and the
sociology of youth‘,Youth
Studies Australia, v.30, n.3, pp.
Wierenaga, A. 2011, ‘The
sociology of youth, the future,
and the holy grail’, Youth
Studies Australia, v.30, n.3, pp.
Willis, P. 1977, Learning to labour,
Saxon House, Farnborough.
Wyn, J. 2011, ‘The sociology
of youth: A reflection on its
contribution to the field and
future directions’, Youth Studies
Australia, v.30, n.3, pp.

Youth Studies Australia VOLUME 30 NUMBER 2 2011 63

View publication stats