Andy Furlong

Not a very NEET solution representing problematic labour market transitions among early school-leavers

Concern with youth unemployment has been replaced with a focus on those not in education, in employment, or in training (NEET). With current levels of youth unemployment low, this emphasis helps remind us that an increase in employment levels is not necessarily accompanied by a reduction in vulnerability. While NEET can be used as a concept for representing problematic transitions, it is an ill-considered concept that places an undue and often misleading emphasis on voluntarism. Drawing on the Scottish School Leavers Survey, the article explores the policy implications of different definitions of NEET, highlights its prevalence, and examines the characteristics of those who are NEET. It is argued that to represent vulnerable youth effectively we must either use a set of definitions that are narrower than that represented by NEET, or adopt a much broader definition that provides a basis for more far-reaching interventions.

Changing times, changing perspectives: Reconciling ‘transition’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives on youth and young adulthood:

This article explores the changing relationship between the ‘transitions’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives in youth studies. Changes in the relationship between the two approaches are currently being driven by shifting theoretical paradigms that place a greater weight on reflexive life management, thereby making it more difficult to maintain a theoretical distinction between structural and cultural analysis. Indeed, we argue that relationships between the two approaches are showing signs of convergence, partly as a consequence of the emergence of new ways of managing life contexts which frequently involve the blending of contexts, the search for new meanings and a changing sense of self in time. We trace the trends in the relationship between the ‘transitions’ and ‘cultural’ perspectives against the backdrop of changing opportunity structures. Focusing on contemporary contexts, we explore some of the ways in which recent socio-economic changes challenge traditional ways of interpreting subjectivities. We conclude by exploring the ways in which the sociology of youth can move forward using a social generation approach.

Access to Higher Education and Disadvantaged Young People

This article will highlight the difficulties faced by qualified but disadvantaged young people in accessing higher education. This is an issue which has strong implications for education policy, economic efficiency and social justice. Over the past two decades, despite large increases in overall access to higher education, the gap in level of participation between the most affluent and most disadvantaged school-leavers has remained intact. This article will examine patterns of educational attrition amongst less affluent young people, who gain sufficient qualifications to enter higher education. In other words, in order to redress the imbalance in the uptake of places in higher education, this article will distinguish between the factors which qualify young people to access university and those which predispose them to participate. A range of factors (barriers) which impacted upon levels of participation in higher education was found. Access to higher education was primarily dictated by level of school achievement, although this in turn was found to be a function of disadvantage. Furthermore, some qualified but disadvantaged young people forwent the opportunity to enter higher education on leaving school, while others enrolled in less advanced courses, for reasons other than academic ability.

The Japanese hikikomori phenomenon: acute social withdrawal among young people

Although rare in the west, in Japan and in some other advanced countries on the Asian-Pacific rim, there is a popular perception that there has been a significant increase in the numbers of young people who withdraw socially for protracted periods of time (referred to by the Japanese term ‘hikikomori’). This paper describes the hikikomori phenomenon in Japan, considers evidence relating to its prevalence and examines views about the causes. I argue that the tendency to think of hikikomori as a homogeneous group characterised by psychological malaise is misleading and that withdrawal and disengagement can also be linked to changing opportunity structures. The collapse of the primary labour market for young people and the growing prevalence of a precarious secondary sector has led to a situation in which traditional and deep-rooted norms are undermined and young people forced to find new ways of navigating transitions within a highly pressured and rigid system. Under these circumstances, acute withdrawal often represents an anomic response to a situation where tradition no longer provides adequate clues to appropriate behaviour rather than as a malaise reducible to individual psychologies.

Framing ‘Choices’: a longitudinal study of occupational aspirations among 13 to 16-year olds

Abstract The ‘framing’ of occupational aspirations and expectations are examined through a longitudinal study of 13‐ to 16‐year‐olds. The relative impact of gender, social class and area on the development of occupational aspirations and expectations is assessed, together with an examination of levels of stability between the ages of 13 and 16. While males and females tend to aspire to very gender‐specific occupations, ideas about the suitability of occupations are formed at a relatively early age and overall levels of change are quite small. Bivariate analysis highlights the impact of gender, area, social class and academic attainment on occupational aspirations. Multiple regression is used to assess the relative impact of factors associated with variation in status levels of occupational aspirations: after controlling for expected academic attainments, other factors were found not to have a significant impact on occupational aspirations. These findings suggest that the impact of area and social class op...

In search of ‘intergenerational cultures of worklessness’: Hunting the Yeti and shooting zombies:

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.

Revisiting Transitional Metaphors: Reproducing Social Inequalities under the Conditions of Late Modernity.

This paper focuses on some of the conceptual implications of changes in youth transitions over the last 40 years. I argue that changes have often been exaggerated with researchers too enthusiastic to jump on theoretical bandwagons without due regard for empirical evidence. While I suggest that there are important changes that impact on the ways in which social classes are reproduced, involving a perception of increased opportunity and greater scope for individual agency, a degree of class‐based convergence and illusions regarding the disappearance of class, I will argue that the new mechanisms lead to the re‐establishment of very familiar patterns of socio‐economic inequality which can largely be understood by employing established theoretical ideas. While biographical approaches are regarded as useful, the continued use of social class is defended.

Risk and uncertainty in the youth transition

Over the last two decades, the transition from school to work in Britain has changed quite radically, as is the case in much of Western Europe. Transitions have become more protracted, routes have increased in complexity and sequences of events have changed. Whilst young people were once able to develop fairly clear ideas about their likely destinations in the labour market, today they are much more uncertain about the implications of following particular transitional routes. In this paper, we describe some of the main changes which have occurred over the last decade and discuss some of their implications. Our main argument is that despite the radical nature of the changes which have taken place, new opportunities are limited. For many young people, the underlying patterns of social reproduction largely remain intact, while for others we can identify new sources of vulnerability which may ultimately lead to marginalisation. Despite the existence of many continuities in transitional outcomes, the changes have left many young people without fixed points of reference and are associated with increased feelings of risk and uncertainty. Whereas subjective understandings of the social world were once shaped by class, gender and neighbourhood relations, the far reaching nature of the changes mean that today everything is presented as a possibility. We begin by describing some of the changes in patterns of educational participation in Britain, highlighting the extent to which differential educational outcomes have been maintained over the last couple of decades. We go on to look at the implications of these changes for young people’s labour market experiences.

Educating Discouraged Workers': Cultural Diversity in the Upper Secondary School.

Through a qualitative study of the experiences of young people in the second year of post‐compulsory education in schools in four contrasting Scottish labour markets, we investigate the existence of a ‘discouraged worker’ effect. We argue that in the modem upper secondary school, which contains pupils with a range of attainment levels, it is possible to identify a number of distinct orientations to school life and suggest that the types of opportunities available within local labour markets affect young peoples decisions to remain at school. We suggest that cultural responses to the school have become more individualised and that ‘discouraged workers’ can be identified in both the middle and the lower attainment bands.

Aspirations and Opportunity Structures: 13-Year Olds in Areas with Restricted Opportunities.

Abstract Some of the ways in which the occupational and educational aspirations and expectations of 13-year-olds are influenced by local opportunity structures are examined. The educational and occupational aspirations of 13-year-olds in contrasting local labour markets are explored, along with the ways in which their plans may be affected by living in an area with restricted opportunities. It is argued that differences in aspirations and expectations are largely explained by the socio-economic location of families rather than by the structure of the local labour market. However, 13-year-olds have an awareness of the limited nature of local job opportunities, and many realise that migration may be necessary if they are to fulfil their aspirations.