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Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Tony Fang and Morley Gunderson

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the labour market exclusion of the groups in Canada that have been defined as vulnerable in that they were persistently in poverty over a…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the labour market exclusion of the groups in Canada that have been defined as vulnerable in that they were persistently in poverty over a defined period of time. The vulnerable groups were: unattached individuals age 45-64, disabled persons, recent immigrants, lone parents, Aboriginal persons and youth not in school.

Design/methodology/approach

Five panels of data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics are used over the period from 1993 to 2010 to compare the vulnerable groups with a benchmark non-vulnerable in various dimensions: a descriptive profile of their labour market exclusion and characteristics; a portrayal of their trends in labour market exclusion; an analysis of the persistence of being excluded from the labour force; and an econometric analysis of the determinants of their probability of transitioning into the labour force and out of the labour force.

Findings

The vulnerable groups tend to be disproportionately excluded from the labour force and to be persistently excluded for longer periods of time. They are generally more likely to be female, lower educated, in poorer health and to find their life to be stressful and to have recently experienced a negative life event. Exclusion from the labour market tends to trend downward over time for both the non-vulnerable benchmark group and the various vulnerable groups. There is considerable variability in the patterns across the different groups with respect to transitions into and out of the labour market.

Practical implications

The labour market is a first line of defense against social and economic exclusion. While labour market exclusion is trending downward it remains stubbornly high for the vulnerable groups. Their diversity of experiences suggest a one-size-fits all solution to exclusion is not appropriate for the different vulnerable groups. Different policy initiatives are appropriate and they are discussed for each vulnerable group.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to systematically examine a wide range of dimensions of the labour market exclusion of the vulnerable groups in Canada and to highlight their similarities and differences. It also highlights the various policy initiatives that are appropriate for the different groups.

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2013

Susan L. Kendall

69

Abstract

Details

Reference Reviews, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0950-4125

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1984

W.L. Grichting

During the past decade we have witnessed renewed interest in the study and analysis of both social policy and social structure. Journalists, administrators, politicians, welfare…

Abstract

During the past decade we have witnessed renewed interest in the study and analysis of both social policy and social structure. Journalists, administrators, politicians, welfare personnel and social scientists have extensively been engaged in the interpretation and assessment of the impact of social policy on social structure and vice versa. It would appear that the return of liberal governments in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia had much to do with this time‐honoured revival. In the United States this activity can be largely attributed to the promise of the “Great Society” ‐ an attempt by the Johnson administration (1963–1968) to eliminate poverty, create employment, improve medical care and education and revitalise cities and rural areas. In the United Kingdom the Labour Governments of Wilson (1964–1970; 1974–1976) and Callaghan (1976–1979) held out similar promises for a more equitable society. Predictably the literature on social policy and social structure increased accordingly.

Details

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

Abstract

Details

Black Youth Aspirations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-025-2

Book part
Publication date: 26 July 2016

Ana Campos-Holland, Grace Hall and Gina Pol

The No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and Race to the Top (2009) led to the highest rate of standardized-state testing in the history of the United States of America. As a result…

Abstract

Purpose

The No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and Race to the Top (2009) led to the highest rate of standardized-state testing in the history of the United States of America. As a result, the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) aims to reevaluate standardized-state testing. Previous research has assessed its impact on schools, educators, and students; yet, youth’s voices are almost absent. Therefore, this qualitative analysis examines how youth of color perceive and experience standardized-state testing.

Design/methodology/approach

Seventy-three youth participated in a semistructured interview during the summer of 2015. The sample consists of 34 girls and 39 boys, 13–18 years of age, of African American, Latino/a, Jamaican American, multiracial/ethnic, and other descent. It includes 6–12th graders who attended 61 inter-district and intra-district schools during the 2014–2015 academic year in a Northeastern metropolitan area in the United States that is undergoing a racial/ethnic integration reform.

Findings

Youth experienced testing overload under conflicting adult authorities and within an academically stratified peer culture on an ever-shifting policy terrain. While the parent-adult authority remained in the periphery, the state-adult authority intrusively interrupted the teacher-student power dynamics and the disempowered teacher-adult authority held youth accountable through the “attentiveness” rhetoric. However, youth’s perspectives and lived experiences varied across grade levels, school modalities, and school-geographical locations.

Originality/value

In this adult-dominated society, the market approach to education reform ultimately placed the burden of teacher and school evaluation on youth. Most importantly, youth received variegated messages from their conflicting adult authorities that threatened their academic journeys.

Details

Education and Youth Today
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78635-046-6

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

Book part
Publication date: 19 July 2021

Thomas V. Maher and Jennifer Earl

Prior social movement research has focused on the role that axes of inequality – particularly race, class, gender, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ…

Abstract

Prior social movement research has focused on the role that axes of inequality – particularly race, class, gender, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) status – play for who participates and how they do so. Age is another important axis of inequality. The pervasiveness of a youth deficit model, which casts young people as deficient and requiring benevolent adult tutelage, is of particular concern for youth. This chapter assesses whether the internalization of the deficit model influences young people's activism and how they perceive their engagement. Drawing on interviews with 40 high school and college students from a southwestern US city, we find that many young people have internalized deficit-model assumptions, affecting when and how they participated. This was most evident among high school students, who limited their participation because they were “not old enough” or gravitated toward more “age-appropriate” forms of activism. Interestingly, we found college students were more willing to engage in online activism but also felt compelled to do significant research on issues before participating, thereby distancing themselves from the deficit model's assumptions of their political naivety. Finally, some participants felt discouraged by the perceived ineffectiveness of protest, which resonated with deficit model narratives of the futility of youth engagement. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the impacts of an internalized deficit model as well as considering age as an axis of inequality in activism. Youth engagement is best supported by seeing young people as capable actors with unique interests, capacities, and points of view.

Details

The Politics of Inequality
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-363-0

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Black Youth Aspirations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-025-2

Book part
Publication date: 21 November 2011

Valerie Leiter

Purpose – This chapter examines the foundations of community among youth with disabilities.Methodology – Qualitative data on 52 youth with disabilities were analyzed, based on…

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter examines the foundations of community among youth with disabilities.

Methodology – Qualitative data on 52 youth with disabilities were analyzed, based on interviews with the youth and their parents. The sample included youth with intellectual, hidden, physical, and sensory disabilities. Data analysis was guided by grounded theory.

Findings – Four foundations of community were identified: geographic, disability-based, religious, and virtual. Disability-based contexts provided much of the basis of friendship for youth with disabilities. Just under half of youth had community connections within their home towns.

Research limitations – These analyses rely on the self-reported and parent-reported experiences of 52 youth with disabilities in Massachusetts and are not representative of youth with disabilities nationwide. Only youth who were still in high school just before graduation are represented; those who dropped out earlier were not included.

Practical implications – Community connections create opportunities for friendship and for sharing information. Youth enjoyed their connections, whether they were formal (designed and created by adults) or informal (just hanging out with other local youth).

Social implications – Youth's connections with other youth with disabilities may result in bonding social capital, creating friendships, but there are fewer opportunities for bridging social capital, creating connections with typically developing youth.

Originality – This chapter provides an overview of youth's perceptions of their participation in various social and recreational activities and explores and conceptualizes the contexts in which youth with disabilities experience community connections with other youth.

Details

Disability and Community
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-800-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 May 2012

William G. Tierney and Ronald E. Hallett

This chapter examines the educational barriers that homeless youth face in one large urban area. The text reviews the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act and discusses how…

Abstract

This chapter examines the educational barriers that homeless youth face in one large urban area. The text reviews the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act and discusses how California has attempted to follow the federal mandates, and the implications for Los Angeles. The chapter utilizes interviews with 120 homeless youth and 45 policymakers, school counselors, and after-school program coordinators in Los Angeles to understand how youth experience the education system. The authors identify aspects of the federal mandate that impede the educational progress of homeless youth. The findings highlight that homeless youth are not a homogenous group and educational supports need to be designed recognizing the diversity of their needs. Implications for policy and program implementation are discussed as they pertain to one large city in order to generate future research that might support, contradict, or expand upon the findings.

Details

Living on the Boundaries: Urban Marginality in National and International Contexts
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-032-2

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