Search results

1 – 10 of over 1000
Book part
Publication date: 22 December 2017

Hava Rachel Gordon

This chapter considers some of the divergent outcomes of youth mobilization and participation in offline spaces, particularly in the youth nonprofit. Critics of youth online…

Abstract

This chapter considers some of the divergent outcomes of youth mobilization and participation in offline spaces, particularly in the youth nonprofit. Critics of youth online political participation detail several shortcomings of online activism as compared to offline activism, but in so doing, these critics venerate offline activism as a utopic alternative. Based on qualitative research in three organizations that mobilize youth around issues of education reform, this chapter demonstrates that the offline youth activist nonprofit fosters political power among some youth while burning out other youth. For teenage activists, these nonprofit organizations offer political education, institutional leverage, and foster political efficacy. At the same time, older youth organizers who are paid staff in these same organizations struggle with having to reign in the radicalism of the youth they mentor, while performing invisible labor around the demands of their organizational funders. These organizational pressures work to burn out youth organizers and steer them away from politics. Online forms of youth activism bring about outcomes that both enhance the political capacities of youth as well as hinder their potential to transform social injustices. Far from utopic, offline movement contexts also foster these contradictory outcomes and should be considered more critically in the debates over the merits of offline versus online activism.

Details

Social Movements and Media
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-098-3

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 14 December 2023

David Brown

This chapter provides a brief overview of community sanctions in Australia and examines the extent to which McNeill’s analysis in Pervasive Punishment (2019) is applicable in the…

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief overview of community sanctions in Australia and examines the extent to which McNeill’s analysis in Pervasive Punishment (2019) is applicable in the Australian context. Two key issues in the Australian context are, firstly, state and territory-level variations within a federal political structure, and secondly, disproportionate Indigenous imprisonment and community sanction rates and the generally destructive impact of the criminal legal system on Indigenous communities and peoples. The chapter argues that developing a better agonistic politics around community sanctions requires descending from the broad level of historical and sociological analysis to examine state and territory-level variations in judicial and correctional structures, histories and cultures. Further, that Australian community sanctions cannot be understood without a primary focus on the differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous rates, experiences and meaning. The key to addressing the destructive impact of criminal legal processes and practices on Indigenous peoples lies in developing Indigenous governance, empowerment, self-determination, sovereignty and nation-building. Two recent developments promoting Indigenous governance are examined: the Uluru Statement from the Heart and Justice Reinvestment projects initiated by First Nations communities, highlighting the importance of activism, contest and struggle by community organisations.

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Punishment, Probation and Parole: Mapping Out ‘Mass Supervision’ In International Contexts
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-194-3

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Article
Publication date: 20 July 2012

Victor Wong

The purpose of this paper is to critically discuss state inaction on and NGO responses to the hidden problem of youth disengagement in the form of social withdrawal.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically discuss state inaction on and NGO responses to the hidden problem of youth disengagement in the form of social withdrawal.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on data drawn from six focus groups of social workers working with youths experiencing the problem of social withdrawal and another 30 individual interviews with service users having had this vulnerable background.

Findings

Substantiated with empirical findings, the paper argues that young people in social withdrawal characterized by their socially avoidant behavior and deprivation of an engagement status as a worker, student or trainee are largely invisible to the state because of the latter's insensitivity to the heterogeneity and diversity of disengaged youth and reproduction of the anti‐social notion of at‐risk youth. A flexible and tailor‐made strategy initiated by an NGO is argued to be more effective in meeting the needs of silently‐disengaged young people.

Originality/value

This paper critically examines state inaction on the problem of youth disengagement in the form of social withdrawal and argues the importance of adopting a flexible and tailor‐made strategy with regard to both outreaching and service provision efforts.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 32 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

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Article
Publication date: 2 February 2015

Katie Dhingra, Agata Debowska, Kathryn Sharratt, Philip Hyland and Susanna Kola-Palmer

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of psychopathy factors and gang membership on moral disengagement while controlling for age, ethnicity, having run away from…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of psychopathy factors and gang membership on moral disengagement while controlling for age, ethnicity, having run away from home, family member and/or friend arrests, substance misuse, parental physical fights, violence exposure (victimization and witnessing), and maternal warmth and hostility.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on data collected from serious juvenile offenders (n=769) as part of the Pathways to Desistance Study.

Findings

Six independent variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model: gang membership, age, gender, violence exposure, and psychopathy Factors 1 and 2. Psychopathy Factor 1 was the strongest predictor of moral disengagement.

Originality/value

Results indicate that youth with heightened psychopathic traits make greater use of strategies to rationalize and justify their harmful behaviour against others. Implications in relation to theory and previous studies are discussed.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 6 July 2021

Thomas Elliott and Jennifer Earl

Youth political engagement is often ignored and downplayed by adults, who often embrace a youth deficit model. The youth deficit model downplays the voices and unique experiences…

Abstract

Youth political engagement is often ignored and downplayed by adults, who often embrace a youth deficit model. The youth deficit model downplays the voices and unique experiences of youth in favor of adult-led and adult-centered experiences. Like other historical deficit models, the youth deficit model also provides permission to adults to speak for or about youth, even when not asked to speak for them. We refer to this powerful construction of youth interests by adults as mediation. Fortunately, online advocacy could offer an unmediated route to political engagement for youth as digital natives. Using a unique dataset, we investigate whether online protest spaces offer an unmediated experience for youth to learn about and engage in political protest. However, we find that youth engagement, and especially unmediated youth engagement, is rare among advocacy digital spaces, though it varies by movement, SMO-affiliation, and age groups. Based on our findings, we argue that, rather than youth being primarily responsible for any alleged disengagement, the lack of online spaces offering opportunities for youth to take ownership of their own engagement likely discourages youth from participating in traditional political advocacy and renders the level of youth engagement an admirable accomplishment of young people.

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2007

Tony Richardson

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of re‐engaging American youth via the application and process of dual‐credit. Whereby, the dual‐credit phenomenon will

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the development of re‐engaging American youth via the application and process of dual‐credit. Whereby, the dual‐credit phenomenon will stimulate debate on its impact within the educational hierarchy.

Design/methodology/approach

A recently published work by Dr Hans Andrews, The Dual‐Credit Phenomenon, was critiqued in conjunction with a number of other recently published materials. Dr Andrews' work was used as a cornerstone on which the other materials could lay to facilitate discussion on the issue of education and the impact that it was having on the youth of America.

Findings

Dr Andrews' work focuses on addressing the needs of gifted or mature students ready for college. The dual‐credit process, whilst successful, is only partially addressing the needs of all disengaged students.

Practical implications

The paper looks at the impact on the dual‐credit process and attempts to look further into the problem of youth disengagement by suggesting possible courses of action based on the significant contributions that Dr Andrews' work has highlighted with respect to the processes and applications associated with dual‐accreditation.

Originality/value

This paper fills a genuine source need.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 15 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 December 2017

Carrie James and Ashley Lee

Digital and social media have arguably altered the civic landscape, creating not only opportunities for civic voice and engagement but also distinct challenges. How do youth who…

Abstract

Digital and social media have arguably altered the civic landscape, creating not only opportunities for civic voice and engagement but also distinct challenges. How do youth who are civically active think about activism and their own civic activities in this landscape? How does their sense of themselves as civic actors – the strength and salience of their civic identities – shape decisions to “speak up” online? In this chapter, we draw on data from interviews with civically active youth to explore connections between their civic identities and uptake of opportunities for voice online. Drawing on data from a follow-up study conducted two years after initial interviews, we also examine reported changes in online expression over time. We find that many – though not all – youth in our study appear to have strong civic identities, as indicated by their self-identification as “activists” and the centrality of voice to their conceptions of activism. We also observe connections between activist identification and online civic expression over time. Youths’ narratives about what informs their online voice decisions further suggest the relevance of forces that have influenced persistence in civic participation (such as life transitions, work, and family demands) in addition to pressures unique to the digital context (including online conflict and surveillance). This qualitative study suggests that strong civic identities may support uptake of, and persistence with, online civic expression and tolerance of related challenges. In the discussion, we consider implications for youth civic development and for the vitality and diversity of the digital civic sphere.

Details

Social Movements and Media
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-098-3

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 October 2020

Kathryn Seymour, Jennifer Skattebol and Ben Pook

The purpose of this paper is to share reflections on the frontline delivery of a wrap-around secondary school re-engagement programme on compounding digital inequality during the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to share reflections on the frontline delivery of a wrap-around secondary school re-engagement programme on compounding digital inequality during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper presents a deliberative reflection on practice and policy lessons learned while negotiating the digital divide during the COVID-19 lockdown in the delivery of the yourtown education youth engagement programme.

Findings

Frontline youth worker practice lessons highlight the compounding effect of digital inequality on vulnerable young people who are already disengaged or disengaging from secondary education and the necessity for a reflexive, agile and adaptable practice response, particularly during unprecedented events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Originality/value

This paper presents a wraparound service perspective and outlines important practice lessons gained from adapting an education re-engagement programme to respond to the COVID-19 lockdown in the Greater Brisbane area, Australia.

Article
Publication date: 11 April 2016

Mirja Määttä and Sanna Aaltonen

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical view of participatory policies and measures by highlighting that participation is not only a right for young people, but also an…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical view of participatory policies and measures by highlighting that participation is not only a right for young people, but also an obligation for many. This obligated participation is studied conceptually and empirically.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper introduces a novel typology of youth participation that demonstrates the dimensions of institutional framing and a degree of choice in participation. The typology is applied in an empirical study on how the participation rights and obligations are formed and handled within an educational programme, aiming to support young people at the margins.

Findings

Young people are controlled by their participation obligations, and are guided to reach maturity and claim personal responsibility for their choices. The acceptance of an obligation to participate has to be negotiated with young people in services; otherwise they may opt out of supportive measures.

Research limitations/implications

More research is needed on how youth participation terminology is used in political programmes and professional practices.

Social implications

It is vital to discuss the options and obligations of young people in professional support measures and consider their implications for different groups of young people. At the policy level, the challenge is to ensure that the right to participate at community and political levels is not ignored or made inaccessible to young people at the margins.

Originality/value

The typology diversifies understanding of youth participation and enables the analysis of participation types. It can be applied in youth studies, policy-making and practices.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 36 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 December 2017

Thomas V. Maher and Jennifer Earl

Growing interest in the use of digital technologies and a Putnam-inspired debate about youth engagement has drawn researchers from outside of the study of social movements into…

Abstract

Growing interest in the use of digital technologies and a Putnam-inspired debate about youth engagement has drawn researchers from outside of the study of social movements into research on the topic. This interest in youth protest participation has, in turn, developed into a substantial area of research of its own. While offering important research contributions, we argue that these areas of scholarship are often not well grounded in classic social movement theory and research, instead focusing on new media and/or the relationship between activism and other forms of youth engagement. This chapter seeks to correct this by drawing on interviews with 40 high school and college students from a moderately sized southwestern city to examine whether traditional paths to youth activism (i.e., family, friends, and institutions) have changed or eroded as online technology use and extra-institutional engagement among youth has risen. We find that youth continue to be mobilized by supportive family, friends, and institutional opportunities, and that the students who were least engaged are missing these vital support networks. Thus, it is not so much that the process driving youth activism has changed, but that some youth are not receiving support that has been traditionally necessary to spur activism. This offers an important reminder for scholars studying youth and digital activism and youth participation more broadly that existing theory and research about traditional pathways to activism needs to be evaluated in contemporary research.

Details

Social Movements and Media
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-098-3

Keywords

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