In this chapter, we begin by outlining some of the serious disadvantages and injustices that are normally experienced by many children and young people. We trace this situation back to the ways young people are talked about by adults and experts as ‘troubled’ and or as ‘trouble-makers’. This preoccupation owes a great deal to two key concepts: ‘childhood’ and ‘adolescence’. We discuss some of the ways adults—especially professionals and experts— have constructed infl uential ideas about the phases of childhood and adolescence in what is called the life-cycle. We explore the ways adults and experts construct and reproduce highly prejudicial accounts of young people, and consider the implications of this practice. We then turn to the idea of youth culture, and show how the modern media and the some key social sciences represent young people as a threat to social order. In a short case study designed to reveal the need for care in constructing causal arguments, we critically analyse claims that youth unemployment ‘causes’ high rates of youth crime, and indicate why this assertion needs to be treated cautiously.

Useful links

Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
http://www.acys.info/

Foundation for Young Australians
http://www.youngaustralians.org/resources/ya_resources_publications.asp

Part One : What is Sociology?

Part Two: Identity

Part Three: Globalisation

Chapter 8: Being young: Age and identity

Further reading

Useful links